Designing a Generative AI-Assisted Music Psychotherapy Tool for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Individuals

Abstract: Songwriting has long served as a powerful medium for expressing unconscious emotions and fostering self-awareness in psychotherapy. Due to the auditory-centric nature of traditional approaches, Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) individuals have often been excluded from music's therapeutic benefits. In response, this study presents a music psychotherapy tool co-designed with therapists, integrating conversational agents (CAs) and music generative AI as symbolic and therapeutic media. Through a usage study with 23 DHH individuals, we found that collaborative song writing with the CA enabled them to experience emotional release, reinterpretation, and deeper self-understanding. In particular, the CA's strategies -- supportive empathy, example response options, and visual-based metaphors -- were found to facilitate musical dialogue effectively for DHH individuals. These findings contribute to inclusive AI design by showing the potential of human-AI collaboration to bridge therapeutic artistic practices.