This seminar will explore a set of case studies carried out within Emma Frid’s postdoctoral research project focused on Accessible Digital Musical Instruments (ADMIs). The work revolves around a collaboration with a group of pre-verbal children with profound and multiple learning disabilities, and musical interfaces designed with and for this group. The seminar will explore results from long-term studies spanning over several years, and challenges, methodological considerations, and evaluation strategies for ADMIs, based on the following publications: Customizing and Evaluating Accessible Multisensory Music Experiences with Pre-Verbal Children (2022), Haptic Music Players for Children with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (2022), Collaborative Music-Making: Special Educational Needs School Assistants as Facilitators in Performances with ADMIs (2023), and Musical Robots: Overview and Methods for Evaluation (2023).

Emma Frid is a postdoctoral researcher in the Sound and Music Computing Group at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and former member of the Perception et Design Sonores team at STMS IRCAM. She has a PhD in Sound and Music Computing from KTH and is the author of the first systematic review on Accessible Digital Musical Instruments (ADMIs). Her research focuses on accessibility of musical expression and multimodal interfaces.