Interactive Performance for Musicians with a Hearing Impairment
A three-year project, which culminated in a successful one-day conference at the RNCM, originally inspired by deaf musician Dame Evelyn Glennie who describes feeling and using vibration when playing percussion instruments.
The aim of the research was to investigate the potential for vibrotactile feedback to facilitate interactive group performance for musicians with hearing impairments who otherwise rely primarily on visual cues. The intention was to open up new opportunities for deaf people, young and old, to enjoy making music together.
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of England and led by Dr Carl Hopkins (Reader in Acoustics and Head of the Acoustic Research Unit at the University of Liverpool) and Professor Jane Ginsborg (Associate Dean of Research and Enterprise and Programme Leader for Research Degrees at the RNCM) in partnership with Music and the Deaf, ‘Interactive performance for musicians with a hearing impairment’ was shortlisted for the title of 2013 Research Project of the Year. Full story here.
