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• μCap: Instrumental Music Captions for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Individuals

  SooYeon Ahn, In-Chang Baek, KyungJoong Kim, Khai N. Truong, Jin-Hyuk Hong · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Ahn and colleagues introduce μCap (Music Captions), an automatic captioning system that makes instrumental music accessible to Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) audiences by producing time-aligned, non-lexical textual renderings — syllable-like strings such as 'Tta-da-ding' or…

  deaf and hard of hearing · DHH · captions · closed captions · music accessibility

• FAME: Exploring Expressive Facial Avatars for Lyrical and Non-Lyrical Music Visualization for d/Deaf Individuals

  Suhyeon Yoo, Yifang Pan, Ashish Ajin Thomas, Karan Singh, Khai N. Truong · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper investigates whether expressive facial avatars can carry the emotional and structural richness of music — rhythm, pitch, melody, lyrics, and emotion — to d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) audiences in ways that captions and abstract visualizers cannot. The…

  Deaf music · DHH · music accessibility · facial avatar · music visualization

• From Daily Song to Daily Self: Supporting Emotional Growth of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Individuals through Generative AI Songwriting

  Youjin Choi, JinYoung Yoo, JaeYoung Moon, Yoonjae Kim, Eun Young Lee, Jennifer G Kim, Jin-Hyuk Hong · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper introduces SoulNote, a generative-AI songwriting system designed to support sustained emotional growth for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) individuals through music-based journaling. The authors argue that prior music-GenAI accessibility work has focused on…

  Generative AI · Deaf and Hard of Hearing · songwriting · mental health · music accessibility

• Turning the Knobs of Musical Emotion: Designing Emotion-Oriented Audio Control Interface for Cochlear Implant Users

  Hyojin Kim, Taein Song, Kyung Myun Lee · 2026 · CHI EA '26: Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  Kim, Song, and Lee (KAIST) tackle a persistent but under-designed problem in hearing accessibility: cochlear implant (CI) users can hear music but receive it in a spectrally coarse, pitch-degraded form that blunts emotional perception. Rather than pursue the well-trodden…

  cochlear implant · music accessibility · deaf and hard of hearing · audio interface · musical emotion

• XRMusic4VIP: Enabling Simultaneous Sheet Music Reading and Playing for Visually Impaired Musicians through Extended Reality

  Julia Anken, Delia Blaess, Karin Müller · 2025 · ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper addresses a largely unexplored challenge in music accessibility: enabling visually impaired musicians to simultaneously read sheet music and play keyboard instruments. While assistive technologies for visually impaired musicians exist—including magnification tools,…

  extended reality · visual impairment · music accessibility · assistive technology · augmented reality

• Access Beyond the Score: Understanding Notation Needs and Workflows of Low Vision Musicians

  William Christopher Payne, Yu Lee An · 2025 · ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper investigates how musicians with low vision acquire, adapt, and use music notation, an area that has received far less research attention than Braille Music for blind musicians. Through semi-structured interviews with 16 low vision musicians and 2 sighted Teachers of…

  low vision · music accessibility · notation · Modified Stave Notation · Braille Music

• The Qualities of Convivial Tools and Their Relevance to Music Software Accessibility

  Alex Lucas, James Cunningham, Jacob Harrison, Franziska Schroeder, Andrew McPherson · 2025 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This qualitative study explores how visually impaired and blind (VIB) people access digital audio workstations (DAWs) for creative sound work, drawing on Ivan Illich's concept of "convivial tools" to frame accessibility recommendations. The authors conducted 2-hour remote…

  visual impairment · blindness · digital audio workstations · music accessibility · communities of practice

• "We Musicians Know How to Divide and Conquer": Exploring Multimodal Interactions To Improve Music Reading and Memorization for Blind and Low Vision Learners

  Leon Lu, Chase Crispin, Audrey Girouard · 2024 · Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper investigates how multimodal assistive technologies (MATs) combining sound, vibration, and touch can improve music reading and memorization for blind or low-vision (BLV) musicians and learners. The study involved nine BLV participants from The FMDG Music School in New…

  visual impairment · music accessibility · Braille music · multimodal interaction · vibrotactile feedback

• Digital Musical Instruments in Special Educational Needs Schools: Requirements from the Music Teachers' Perspective and the Status Quo in Germany

  Andreas Förster, Steffen Lepa · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study presents the first comprehensive survey of digital musical instrument (DMI) use in special educational needs (SEN) schools, covering 745 schools across 12 of Germany's 16 federal states with a 41.5% response rate. The researchers surveyed 750 music teachers to…

  digital musical instruments · music education · special education · cognitive disabilities · music accessibility

• Evaluating Haptic Technology in Accessibility of Digital Audio Workstations for Visual Impaired Creatives

  Christina Karpodini · 2022 · Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This doctoral consortium paper proposes a two-stage research programme to make Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) more accessible for musicians with visual impairments through haptic feedback. The author argues that modern music production has become an increasingly visual…

  haptic technology · visual impairment · music accessibility · digital audio workstation · vibrotactile feedback

• Designing Gestures for Digital Musical Instruments: Gesture Elicitation Study with Deaf and Hard of Hearing People

  Ryo Iijima, Akihisa Shitara, Yoichi Ochiai · 2022 · Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This study addresses a gap in how deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) people can enjoy playing musical instruments using smartphones. While DHH people can and do enjoy music — often sensing it through vibrations transmitted by instruments or through body movements while performing —…

  deaf and hard of hearing · music accessibility · gesture elicitation · digital musical instruments · haptic feedback

• Empowering Blind Musicians to Compose and Notate Music with SoundCells

  William Christopher Payne, Fabiha Ahmed, Michael Zachor, Michael Gardell, Isabel Huey, Amy Hurst, R. Luke DuBois · 2022 · Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper presents a six-week remote study in which six blind and visually impaired (BVI) musicians used SoundCells, a text-based music notation web application, to compose original short works culminating in a live performance by a professional musician. SoundCells addresses a…

  music accessibility · blindness · braille music · creative expression · assistive technology

• Learning Music Blind: Understanding the Application of Technology to Support BLV Music Learning

  Leon Lu · 2022 · Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This doctoral consortium paper outlines a three-study PhD research program investigating how wearable technologies with vibrotactile feedback can support blind and low vision (BLV) music learners. The research is motivated by the significant barriers BLV people face in learning…

  music accessibility · blindness · low vision · haptic technology · wearable technology

• SoundCells: Designing a Browser-Based Music Technology for Braille and Print Notation

  William Payne, Fabiha Ahmed, Michael Gardell, R. Luke DuBois, Amy Hurst · 2022 · Proceedings of the 19th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from New York University presents SoundCells, a free, open-source, browser-based music notation tool designed to be accessible to screen reader users while outputting music in three formats simultaneously: audio playback, visual print scores, and braille music…

  music accessibility · blindness · visual impairment · braille · screen readers

• Inclusive Improvisation: Exploring the Line between Listening and Playing Music

  Alon Ilsar, Gail Kenning, Sam Trolland, Ciaran Frame · 2022 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper explores how Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs) designed for professional performance can be adapted into Accessible Digital Musical Instruments (ADMIs) with minimal hardware and software changes. The authors present the AirSticks, a gestural instrument originally…

  accessible digital musical instruments · ADMI · gesture recognition · music accessibility · improvisation

• Inclusive improvisation through sound and movement mapping: from DMI to ADMI

  Alon Ilsar, Gail Kenning · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper presents a case study of adapting the AirSticks, a gestural Digital Musical Instrument (DMI) designed for expert percussionists, into an Accessible Digital Musical Instrument (ADMI) for people with disabilities. The AirSticks use Razer Hydra virtual reality gaming…

  music accessibility · accessible digital musical instruments · gesture interaction · inclusive design · dementia

• TIP-Toy: a tactile, open-source computational toolkit to support learning across visual abilities

  Giulia Barbareschi, Enrico Costanza, Catherine Holloway · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper presents TIP-Toy (Tactile Inclusive Programming Toy), an open-source educational programming toolkit using physical blocks and music output, designed for children ages 6-11 with mixed visual abilities — from full sight to total blindness. The fundamental problem is…

  visual accessibility · STEM education · tangible interaction · blindness and low vision · inclusive design

• How Blind and Visually Impaired Composers, Producers, and Songwriters Leverage and Adapt Music Technology

  William Christopher Payne, Alex Yixuan Xu, Fabiha Ahmed, Lisa Ye, Amy Hurst · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '20)

  This qualitative interview study explores how 11 blind and visually impaired music creators — composers, producers, and songwriters — use and adapt mainstream and assistive music technologies to achieve their creative goals. The researchers recruited participants through the…

  blindness · music accessibility · assistive technology · screen readers · creative accessibility

• Non-Visual Beats: Redesigning the Groove Pizza

  William Payne, Alex Xu, Amy Hurst, S. Alex Ruthmann · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This demonstration paper describes the accessible redesign of the Groove Pizza, a popular free web-based drum step-sequencer developed by NYU’s Music Experience Design Lab (MusEDLab) that reaches thousands of users per month. The original Groove Pizza uses a circular visual…

  music accessibility · blind · visual impairment · screen readers · sonification

• Using the Musical Multimedia Tool ACMUS with People with Severe Mental Disorders: A Pilot Study

  Mikel Ostiz-Blanco, Alfredo Pina, Miriam Lizaso, Jose Javier Astraín, Gonzalo Arrondo · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This demo paper from the University of Navarra presents a pilot study evaluating ACMUS (Accessible Music), a multimedia tool that adds visual and interactive dimensions to music therapy for people with severe mental disorders. Music therapy has shown preliminary benefits for…

  mental health · schizophrenia · music therapy · music accessibility · serious games

• AMI: An Adaptable Music Interface to Support the Varying Needs of People with Dementia

  P. Frazer Seymour, Justin Matejka, Geoff Foulds, Ihor Petelycky, Fraser Anderson · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper presents AMI (Adaptable Music Interface), a tangible, modular music player designed to be reconfigured by caregivers to match the changing needs and preferences of individuals with dementia. Over 46 million people worldwide live with dementia, a progressive syndrome…

  dementia · tangible interaction · music accessibility · personalization · aging

• DysMusic: detecting dyslexia by web-based games with music elements

  Maria Rauschenberger · 2016 · Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This doctoral consortium paper proposes DysMusic, a web-based serious game that uses music elements to detect dyslexia in children aged 3 to 6—before they enter formal schooling and begin experiencing academic failure. The research is motivated by longitudinal evidence showing…

  dyslexia · dyslexia screening · serious games · gamification · music accessibility

• Playing Music with the Head

  Emeline Brulé · 2016 · Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '16)

  This short paper describes the co-design process leading to an open source music-playing software for M., a person living with severe motor, dexterity, and speech impairments in a nursing home in France. The system uses an infrared camera mounted on top of a computer to track…

  music accessibility · motor disability · co-design · participatory design · DIY assistive technology

• Ad-Hoc Access to Musical Sound for Deaf Individuals

  Benjamin Petry, Thavishi Illandara, Juan Pablo Forero, Suranga Nanayakkara · 2016 · Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '16)

  This poster paper presents MuSS-Bits (Music Sensory Substitution Bits), a wearable sensor-display system that enables deaf individuals to explore musical sound from various audio sources with real-time vibrotactile feedback. While existing sensory substitution systems for music…

  deaf and hard of hearing · music accessibility · sensory substitution · haptic technology · wearable technology

• Collaborative Music Application for Visually Impaired People with Tangible Objects on Table

  Shotaro Omori, Ikuko Eguchi Yairi · 2013 · Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This short paper presents a collaborative music composition application designed to enable visually impaired and sighted people to work together on equal ground. The system uses a tabletop tangible interface inspired by Reactable, where physical objects placed on a table surface…

  visual impairment · tangible user interface · music accessibility · collaborative design · AR markers