Sounds and (Braille) Cells: Co-Designing Music Technology with Blind and Visually Impaired Musicians
William Payne · 2022 · Proceedings of the 19th International Web for All Conference (W4A) · doi:10.1145/3493612.3520464
Summary
This doctoral consortium paper outlines a three-phase dissertation addressing the accessibility barriers that blind and visually impaired (BVI) musicians face when using music creation technologies. Music software has democratized composition, production, and songwriting for sighted users, but these tools rely heavily on visual interfaces — graphical representations of music, mouse and touch screen interactions, and WYSIWYG editing — that create significant barriers for people who use keyboards and screen readers. The research is conducted in partnership with the Filomen M. D'Agostino Greenberg (FMDG) School in New York, a community music school serving blind and visually impaired musicians of all ages. Phase one was an interview study with experienced BVI composers, producers, and songwriters that documented the strategies they use and barriers they face with commercial tools, revealing a need for multi-modal music creation environments and simplified input methods. Phase two responds directly to those findings with SoundCells, a browser-based music notation tool that uses plain text input via ABC notation syntax and outputs music in audio, print, and braille formats. Two blind musicians co-designed the tool over two months, and five additional musicians tested it with screen readers. Phase three proposes forming an electronic music ensemble of 4-6 BVI students to collaboratively compose and perform original music over two semesters.
Key findings
The research identifies several critical gaps in the music technology landscape for BVI users. Commercial music software — including digital audio workstations like Logic and Pro Tools, and notation software — becomes less accessible as it advances, with increasingly complex visual interfaces. BVI musicians rely on workarounds documented in online forums and mailing lists, and niche tools like Flo-Tools and Dancing Dots exist specifically to bridge accessibility gaps. SoundCells addresses these issues through a browser-based design that is inherently accessible to screen readers, using plain text ABC notation as input rather than visual interaction. The tool outputs music in three formats: audio for listening, print for sighted collaborators, and braille for BVI users. The co-design process with blind musicians proved essential — the researcher explicitly acknowledges that as a sighted person without formal music education training, the perspectives of BVI partners are invaluable. A key open question is how BVI musicians notate electronic music ideas, since standard braille music notation was designed for classical instruments and does not map well to computer-based music creation. The proposed ensemble phase will explore collaborative and communicative strategies, including how BVI performers coordinate without a visual conductor.
Relevance
This research highlights an underexplored intersection of accessibility and creative expression. While BVI people are well-represented in general accessibility research, very few studies examine music technology specifically, and even fewer propose alternative designs. The work is significant for several reasons: it centers the voices and practices of BVI musicians through participatory design rather than designing for them; it identifies how mainstream technology advances can inadvertently widen accessibility gaps; and it proposes practical, web-based solutions that leverage existing accessible technologies like screen readers and plain text interfaces. The browser-based approach of SoundCells is particularly noteworthy as it avoids the accessibility pitfalls of platform-specific desktop applications. However, as a doctoral consortium paper, much of the research is still proposed rather than completed — the ensemble phase and extended evaluation of SoundCells remain future work. The relatively small number of participants (7 musicians for co-design and testing) limits generalizability, though this is appropriate for the qualitative, participatory methodology.
Tags: visual impairment · blindness · music technology · braille music · co-design · participatory design · assistive technology · screen readers
Standards referenced: Braille Music Code