Toward accessible technology for music composers and producers with motor disabilities

Abstract

In an initial user study, three motor-impaired musicians---a composer with a degenerative motor neuron disease, a guitarist who suffered a stroke, and a first-year college student with impaired finger movement---identified prospective areas of research in assistive technology. Participants in the study made use of a range of technologies to adapt conventional software to their needs, and identified practical limitations and challenges in those adaptations, including suggestions for novel and intuitive interfaces, optimized control-surface layouts, and repurposing opportunities in text-input techniques.