This Small Business and Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to provide accessibility to the blind and visually impaired American consumers that are severely limited as to what features they can take advantage of on Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) devices, such as electronic musical keyboards, because most, if not all, MIDI devices have inaccessible user interfaces. These interfaces are inaccessible primarily because their displays are purely visual. Membrane-type buttons can also hamper accessibility. Sound selection, creation and manipulation are just some of the basic MIDI device functions that musicians need to be able access but cannot do so at present. Music students also need access to this functionality so that they can learn and understand sound synthesis. This project will investigate the feasibility of making MIDI devices accessible to visually impaired musicians. This project will try to solve these accessibility problems with two separate approaches. The first approach will provide access to the display information of some MIDI devices. The second approach will provide control over other MIDI devices. The success of each approach will be used to determine how much effort should be applied to each approach in the next phase of the project, which will concentrate on adding support for more devices and more features for these devices. The proposed activity will lead to a product that will provide blind musicians unprecedented access to musical devices. MIDI Messenger software will be marketed to visually impaired musicians who want to have more access to their MIDI devices and also to some sighted musicians who wish to control their MIDI devices in a live setting with a PDA, for example. If the product becomes popular in the accessibility market, household appliance and ATM machine manufacturers may be more likely to implement the interface. It is notable that this technology has the potential for making other non-musical appliances accessible in a manner that does not involve electronic hardware devices that are unique to each model, as has been the case heretofore.
