This paper proposes a methodology to assess the accessibility for blind or visually impaired people of music production software known as Digital Audio Workstations. The products chosen for the tests are Cockos REAPER, Avid Pro Tools, and Steinberg Cubase, three of the most popular solutions falling in this category. Both Microsoft Windows and macOS versions were tested, since these two operating systems natively integrate assistive technologies which provide a further layer to be considered. The degree of accessibility was evaluated in relation to the possibility for blind or visually impaired people to invoke key functions and perform basic operations. Finally, a focus group with visually impaired professional music producers was organized in order to assess the proposed evaluation methodology.

Evaluating the Accessibility of Digital Audio Workstations for Blind or Visually Impaired People / G. Pedrini, L.A. Ludovico, G. Presti - In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer-Human Interaction Research and Applications (CHIRA 2020) / [a cura di] A. Holzinger, H.P. Silva, M. Helfert, L. Constantine. - [s.l] : Science and Technology Publications (SCITEPRESS), 2020 Nov. - ISBN 9789897584800. - pp. 225-232 (( Intervento presentato al 4. convegno CHIRA International Conference on Computer-Human Interaction Research and Applications nel 2020 [10.5220/0010167002250232].

Evaluating the Accessibility of Digital Audio Workstations for Blind or Visually Impaired People

L.A. Ludovico
Secondo
;
G. Presti
Ultimo
2020

Abstract

This paper proposes a methodology to assess the accessibility for blind or visually impaired people of music production software known as Digital Audio Workstations. The products chosen for the tests are Cockos REAPER, Avid Pro Tools, and Steinberg Cubase, three of the most popular solutions falling in this category. Both Microsoft Windows and macOS versions were tested, since these two operating systems natively integrate assistive technologies which provide a further layer to be considered. The degree of accessibility was evaluated in relation to the possibility for blind or visually impaired people to invoke key functions and perform basic operations. Finally, a focus group with visually impaired professional music producers was organized in order to assess the proposed evaluation methodology.
accessibility; Blind or Visually Impaired (BVI); Digital Audio Workstations
Settore INF/01 - Informatica
nov-2020
Book Part (author)
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
CHIRA2020_pedrini.pdf

accesso aperto

Descrizione: pdf
Tipologia: Publisher's version/PDF
Dimensione 593.17 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
593.17 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/784907
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 0
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 0
social impact