AXMEDIS 2007 Conference Proceedings

The AXMEDIS International Conference series has been established since 2005 and is focused on the research, developments and applications in the cross-media domain, exploring innovative technologies to meet the challenges of the sector. AXMEDIS2007 deals with all subjects and topics related to cross-media and digital-media content production, processing, management, standards, representation, sharing, interoperability, protection and rights management. It addresses the latest developments and future trends of the technologies and their applications, their impact and exploitation within academic, business and industrial communities

Analysis on Using Synthesized Singing Techniques in Assistive Interfaces for Visually Impaired to Study Music

Tactile and auditory senses are the basic types of methods that visually impaired people sense the world. Their interaction with assistive technologies also focuses mainly on tactile and auditory interfaces. This research paper discuss about the validity of using most appropriate singing synthesizing techniques as a mediator in assistive technologies specifically built to address their music learning needs engaged with music scores and lyrics. Music scores with notations and lyrics are considered as the main mediators in musical communication channel which lies between a composer and a performer. Visually impaired music lovers have less opportunity to access this main mediator since most of them are in visual format. If we consider a music score, the vocal performer’s melody is married to all the pleasant sound producible in the form of singing. Singing best fits for a format in temporal domain compared to a tactile format in spatial domain. Therefore, conversion of existing visual format to a singing output will be the most appropriate nonlossy transition as proved by the initial research on adaptive music score trainer for visually impaired [1]. In order to extend the paths of this initial research, this study seek on existing singing synthesizing techniques and researches on auditory interfaces

Perceptions of schooling, pedagogy and notation in the lives of visually-impaired musicians

This article discusses findings on schooling, pedagogy and notation in the life-experiences of amateur and professional visually-impaired musicians; and the professional experiences of sighted music teachers who work with visually-impaired learners. The study formed part of a broader UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project, officially entitled “Visually-impaired musicians’ lives: Trajectories of musical practice, participation and learning” (Grant ref. AH/K003291/1), but which came to be known as “Visually-Impaired Musicians’ Lives” (VIML) (see http://vimusicians.ioe.ac.uk). The project was led at the UCL Institute of Education, London, UK and supported by the Royal Academy of Music, London, and Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) UK, starting in 2013 and concluding in 2015. It sourced “insider” perspectives from 219 adult blind and partially-sighted musicians, and 6 sighted music teachers, through life history interviews, in tandem with an international questionnaire, which collected quantitative and qualitative data. Through articulating a range of “insider” voices, this paper examines some issues, as construed by respondents, around educational equality and inclusion in music for visually-impaired children and adults in relation to three main areas: the provision of mainstream schooling versus special schools; pedagogy, including the preparedness of teachers to respond to the needs of visually-impaired learners; and the educational role of notation, focussing particularly on Braille as well as other print media. The investigation found multifaceted perspectives on the merits of visually-impaired children being educated in either mainstream or special educational contexts. These related to matters such as access to specific learning opportunities, a lack of understanding of visually-impaired musicians’ learning processes at times (including accessible technologies and score media) in mainstream contexts, and concerns about the knowledge of music educators in relation to visual impairment. Regarding pedagogy, there were challenges raised, but also helpful areas for sighted music educators to consider, such as differentiation by sight condition and approach, and the 2 varying roles of gesture, language, light, and touch. There was a diversity of musical participation in visually-impaired adult learners, along with some surprising barriers as well as opportunities linked to different genres and musical contexts, particularly in relation to various print media, and sight reading

Volume 25, Number 2, June 2005 OLAC Newsletter

Digitized June 2005 issue of the OLAC Newsletter

Development oh a tiflo-application for translating music scores to braille

Trabajo de fin de Grado en Doble Grado de Ingeniería informática y Matemáticas, Facultad de Informática UCM, Departamento de Ingeniería del Software e Inteligencia Artificial, Curso 2019/2020La música es una de las mayores formas de expresión que tenemos los seres humanos. Actualmente, la forma más común para representarla es el uso de partituras en tinta. Esta representación es completamente visual, por lo que una persona invidente no puede hacer uso de ella. Por ello, existe la notaci´on llamada braille musical, que permite a las personas ciegas leer una partitura usando las manos a través de un papel perforado o de una línea braille. Sin embargo, el uso y modificación de este tipo de partituras es más complicado que el de las partituras en tinta, algo que se pone de manifiesto en ámbitos como las clases de música o las orquestas. Con los instrumentos que hay hoy en día, modificar en tiempo real una partitura con notación braille es más complicado que hacerlo en una partitura en tinta. Esto se debe a que existen programas que modifican partituras en tinta fácilmente, mientras que los que modifican partituras en braille son más escasos y menos completos. Existen programas, como MuseScore (Schweer, s.f.), que permiten modificar partituras y otros, como FreeDots (Repain y col., s.f.), que las traducen a notación braille. Aunque este sistema es útil, es evidentemente lento en el contexto de una clase. Sin embargo, en otros campos encontramos soluciones de editores interactivos en tiempo real, como es el caso de EDICO (Carenas y col., 2018), editor de matemáticas, física y química desarrollado por la ONCE (“ONCE”, s.f.). Del éxito de EDICO nació la idea de LiveDots, un editor musical interactivo en tiempo real. LiveDots es una aplicación accesible que utiliza al mismo tiempo la representación mediante partitura en tinta y mediante notación braille. Permite la modificación de la partitura en tinta, algo que cambia en tiempo real la notación braille. Además, es posible el uso de un revisor de pantalla para que vaya leyendo los elementos musicales de la partitura en notación braille. Así, la idea de LiveDots es facilitar la docencia musical accesible. Por eso, realizamos un experimento a gente vidente para comprobar si LiveDots facilitaría la inclusión de alumnos invidentes en clases de música. Los participantes utilizaron la aplicación dos veces, la primera con los ojos tapados y la segunda sin tapar. De esta manera, probaron la parte desarrollada para gente invidente, que serían los estudiantes, y la parte desarrollada para gente vidente, que serían los profesores. Durante el desarrollo de la aplicación, comprobamos las diferencias entre diseñar una aplicación accesible y una no accesible, buscando en la primera que el uso sea posible sin necesidad de visualizar la pantalla. A partir de los resultados del experimento, comprobamos que LiveDots es una aplicación accesible que podría facilitar la inclusión de estudiantes invidentes en clases de música.Music is one of the major forms of expression that the humankind has. In this day and age, the most common way of representing it is through sheet music. This representation is completely visual, therefore a blind person cannot make any use of it. For that reason, there exists the notation called musical braille, which allows blind people to read a music score using their hands on an embossed paper or a Braille line. However, the use and modification of this type of scores are more complicated tan that of the sheet music, something that is brought to light in situations like music classes or orchestras. A modification on a score with Braille notation is more complicated than a modification in a score in sheet music since the first one cannot be done in real-time. There exists programs, like MuseScore (Schweer, s.f.), that allow to modificate sheet music scores and others, like FreeDots (Repain y col., s.f.), that translate them to Braille notation. Although this system is useful, it is obviously slow in the context of a class. However, in other fields we find solutions of real-time interactive Braille editors, like the case of EDICO (Carenas y col., 2018), a mathematics, physics and chemistry editor developed by the ONCE (“ONCE”, s.f.). From the success of EDICO was born the idea of LiveDots, an interactive musical Braille editor in real-time. LiveDots is an accessible application that uses at the same time the representation in sheet music and in Braille notation. It allows modification of the sheet music, which changes in real-time the braille notation. Moreover, it is possible to use a screen reader to read the musical elements of the score in braille notation. That way, the idea of LiveDots is to make accessible musical education easier. For that reason, we made an experiment to non-blinded people to check if LiveDots would help with the inclusion of blind students in music classes. The participants used the application twice, the first time blindfolded and the second time without the blindfold. This way, they tested both the part developed for the blind people, which would be the students, and the part developed for the non-blinded people, which would be the teachers. Throughout the development of the application, we verified the differences between designing an application that is accessible and one that is not, making sure that the use of the first did not require screen visualisation. Following the results of the experiment, we confirmed that LiveDots is an accessible application that could help with the inclusion of blind students in music classrooms.Depto. de Ingeniería de Software e Inteligencia Artificial (ISIA)Fac. de InformáticaTRUEunpu

Lifting the Curtain on Opera Translation and Accessibility: Translating Opera for Audiences with Varying Sensory Ability

In the multicultural world of today, as boundaries continue to merge and evolve, issues of accessibility and translation are brought to the forefront of political and social debate. Whilst considerable progress has already been achieved in this domain, the international social and legal recognition of the human right of accessibility to the media and arts demands further advancement in the development of facilities to provide universal access to various art forms including theatre, cinema, and opera. With rapidly developing technology, digitisation and an increasingly socially-aware society, the notion of media accessibility is evolving in response to shifting audience expectations. Performing arts and media, such as opera, are called upon to advance further to embrace all audiences and related audiovisual translation methods are progressing. These include audio description and touch tours for the blind and partially-sighted, as well as sign language interpreting and surtitles for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing. These relatively new translation modalities which are consumer-oriented by nature require an original research design for investigation of the translation processes involved. This research design follows two fundamental principles: (1) audience reception studies should be an integral part of the investigation into the translation process; and (2) the translation process is regarded as a network. This present work explores the unique translation processes of audio description, touch tours, surtitles and sign language interpreting within the context of live opera, focusing on the UK and from the perspective of actor-network theory. A twofold methodology is employed which brings together a study of the translator’s role and an audience reception survey. The translator’s task is examined through observational methods and dialogue with professional practitioners of the various aforementioned translation modalities. The audience’s perspective is investigated through analysis of data collected in a pioneering audience reception project conducted in May 2011, in collaboration with Opera North at performances of Bizet’s Carmen. The focus is on findings assessing the mutual impact of the translator’s choices and audience reception on the distinctive process of translating opera for the blind and partially-sighted as well as the deaf and the hard-of-hearing

Information technological aspects in the field of music. Overview

Uurimuse põhieesmärgiks on anda lugejale ülevaade nootide (noodilehtede) ettevalmistamist ja muusika esitamist toetavatest tarkvarapakettidest ning tutvustada olulisemaid aspekte, mis on seotud nende rakendamisega muusikavallas. Üksikasjaliku ülevaate esitab töö tulemusena valminud veebisõelmete andmebaas koos seda esitava veebirakendusega, mis sisaldab nimetatud tarkvarapakette iseloomustavaid kirjeid. Töö tekstiline osa, st dokument, kirjeldab kokkuvõtlikult olulisemaid aspekte koos mõningate tarkvaraliste näidetega. Osutub, et kõige rohkem leidub internetis noodigraafika töötlemise ning diginoodiks teisendamise vahendeid – vastavalt 98 ja 13 rakendust. Nende valdkondadega seotud töö jaotistes sätestatakse erinevad kriteeriumid, mida nimetatud rakenduste andmebaasi kandmisel arvesse võeti, aga ka meetodeid ja probleeme, millega vastavate rakenduste kasutamisel arvestada tuleks. Uurimust alustades oli üks esmaseid eesmärke koguda võimalikult palju informatsiooni intelligentsete muusikaseadmete, eelkõige elektroonilis-intelligentsete noodipultide kohta. Paraku leidub just nimelt selles valdkonnas kõige vähem vahendeid – kokku vaid 4 rakendust, millest reaalselt kasutatav on vaid üks. Töös kirjeldatakse rakenduste võimalikke omavahelisi võrdlusmomente, analüüsitakse vaadeldava valdkonna nüansse ning tutvustatakse arenguperspektiive. Informatiivsuse huvides on esitletud aga ka tarkvarakomponente ja -pakette (sh raamistikke), mis kaudselt toetavad nootide (noodilehtede) ettevalmistamist ning muusika esitamist – kokku 55 kirjet. Lisaks kirjeldatakse muusikaõpet toetavaid vahendeid. Nendest on andmebaasi kantud kokku 14 rakendust. Antakse põgus ülevaade olemasolevatest huvitavamatest noodikogudest ning nende kasutamisvõimalustest; andmebaasi lisatud vastavalt 13 kirjet. Tutvustatakse aga ka uurimuse kontekstiga seotud bibliograafiat ning ühte tuntumat konverentsiseeriat (ISMIR), mille raames on paljud publikatsioonid valminud. Publikatsioonide loetelu on samuti lisatud töö käigus valminud andmebaasi – kokku 113 kirjet. Arvestades, et pakettide kasutajaliidesed on reeglina ingliskeelsed, on koostatud vastav inglise-eesti terminisõnastik.The main purpose of this thesis is to give an overview of the existing software packages and tools, oriented towards the simplification of musicians everyday work. Since the field is quite extensive, only a subset of the available software has been taken into account – mainly programs designed to support preparing and interpreting sheet music. The thesis is divided into two major components – a database (appended on a CD), which contains all the information about the collected data (software, hardware, related bibliography, etc) and the document itself, where the criterions for comparing the software packages are listed and explained together with some illustrative examples. The first two chapters of the document are dedicated to the ways of generating sheet music – describing and comparing the different software tools for displaying and editing sheet music using note graphics software. Also, an overview of intelligent music stands, which is still an underdeveloped branch in this field, is given. The third chapter of the document describes aspects of using music software as a learning intent complemented with some examples of a freeware program. Additionally, a slight overview of digital (sheet)music archives together with some interesting examples is given in the fourth chapter. Also, the field-specific bibliography (comprising years 1989-2012) is presented in the fifth chapter. In consideration of the fact that almost all user interfaces of the software packages use English language, an illustrated English-Estonian dictionary of relevant terms is appended. The database contains 184 entries of topic-related software packages – 4 intelligent music stand applications, 13 digital sheet music converter applications, 98 score editors, 14 study assistant applications and 55 miscellaneous applications; 13 digital note archives and 113 publications

Multi-Sensory Interaction for Blind and Visually Impaired People

This book conveyed the visual elements of artwork to the visually impaired through various sensory elements to open a new perspective for appreciating visual artwork. In addition, the technique of expressing a color code by integrating patterns, temperatures, scents, music, and vibrations was explored, and future research topics were presented. A holistic experience using multi-sensory interaction acquired by people with visual impairment was provided to convey the meaning and contents of the work through rich multi-sensory appreciation. A method that allows people with visual impairments to engage in artwork using a variety of senses, including touch, temperature, tactile pattern, and sound, helps them to appreciate artwork at a deeper level than can be achieved with hearing or touch alone. The development of such art appreciation aids for the visually impaired will ultimately improve their cultural enjoyment and strengthen their access to culture and the arts. The development of this new concept aids ultimately expands opportunities for the non-visually impaired as well as the visually impaired to enjoy works of art and breaks down the boundaries between the disabled and the non-disabled in the field of culture and arts through continuous efforts to enhance accessibility. In addition, the developed multi-sensory expression and delivery tool can be used as an educational tool to increase product and artwork accessibility and usability through multi-modal interaction. Training the multi-sensory experiences introduced in this book may lead to more vivid visual imageries or seeing with the mind’s eye