Accessible Music: Meeting the Needs of the Print Impaired

The traditional approach taken to the provision of music for the print impaired by major organisations has been largely concerned with Braille Music. However, reading Braille Music is a specialised skill and not all visually impaired people can learn this skill. There are some technologies available which allow the print-impaired to service themselves but there remains a lot of work to be done in the area of accessible music. Strong similarities are emerging between the needs of both consumers and producers, and recent technological advances allow for greater convergence, particularly within emerging multimedia environments. FNB has developed some new approaches, one of which is called Spoken Music. The Spoken Music system can cope with a wide range of music, from elementary to professional levels. Opportunities for future collaboration clearly exist as organisations move towards common formats (such as DAISY) and as digital distribution channels multiply. Keynotes: print impaired, accessible music, spoken music, multimedia, DAISY