Customizing and Evaluating Accessible Multisensory Music Experiences with Pre-Verbal Children—A Case Study on the Perception of Musical Haptics Using Participatory Design with Proxies

Abstract

Research on Accessible Digital Musical Instruments (ADMIs) has highlighted the need for participatory design methods, i.e., to actively include users as co-designers and informants in the design process. However, very little work has explored how pre-verbal children with Profound and Multiple Disabilities (PMLD) can be involved in such processes. In this paper, we apply in-depth qualitative and mixed methodologies in a case study with four students with PMLD. Using Participatory Design with Proxies (PDwP), we assess how these students can be involved in the customization and evaluation of the design of a multisensory music experience intended for a large-scale ADMI. Results from an experiment focused on communication of musical haptics highlighted the diversity in employed interaction strategies used by the children, accessibility limitations of the current multisensory experience design, and the importance of using a multifaceted variety of qualitative and quantitative methods to arrive at more informed conclusions when applying a design with proxies methodology.

Musical preferences of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities: A participatory design with proxies

“…This was not possible due to time limitations. So, to gain a breadth of responses in this consultation phase the researcher utilised the knowledge of pre‐established relationships (Frid et al, 2022). Furthermore, this research was conducted during the Covid‐19 pandemic, as such direct observations may have posed a risk to the participants and the researcher and would likely have been disrupted.…”

“…The study used a participatory design with proxies approach (Frid et al, 2022;Hamidi et al, 2017). Participatory design is a methodology that supports shared learning, through the codesign of a future intervention, product, or concept, where research includes and learns from those for whom the concept is intended The survey was developed in three sections (see Supporting Information: Appendix 1 for a blank copy of the survey).…”

“…This was not possible due to time limitations. So, to gain a breadth of responses in this consultation phase the researcher utilised the knowledge of pre-established relationships (Frid et al, 2022). Furthermore, this research was conducted during the People with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities have numerous routines, many of which are often life-sustaining (Tadema & Vlaskamp, 2010), that are conducted to, and for them daily (Doukas et al, 2017).…”

“…This study used a participatory design with proxies (PDwP) approach (Frid et al, 2022; Hamidi et al, 2017) to consult with people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities on their responses to four instrumental tracks, composed specifically for this study. An exploratory listening experience survey (adapted from Sue & Ritter, 2012) was developed.…”

Perspectives on Musical Care Throughout the Life Course: Introducing the Musical Care International Network

“…Often described as the processes of “co-design” or “co-production,” the arts in care have often been at the forefront of developing collaborative processes where practitioners and communities/clients/consumers have equal voices in the process of designing and developing programs and practices (Ribeiro, 2017). For example, Frid and Falkenberg discussed how they used participatory design methods in their latest work, in which they co-designed musical instruments with children using vocal sketching and other participatory methods (Falkenberg et al, 2020; Frid et al, 2022).…”