How a Blind Musician and Programmer Developed the First Braille Music Translation Package (Episode 46)

Braillecast

The blind community is not without its fair share of innovators: Louis Braille himself, of course, alongside many others who brought us the braille code we know and love today. Elsewhere, the blind community has invented talking book players, screen readers, notetakers and so much more.

For blind musicians, many of the most notable technological innovations in the past thirty years or so have come from Dancing Dots, makers of the Goodfeel braille music translator, Cake Talking scripts for the Sonar Digital Audio Workstation, and Sibelius Speaking.

In this episode, we catch up with its founder, Bill McCann. We talk about how he came to found Dancing Dots and what his products do, before discussing the advantages of his favourite braille displays – the QBraille XL and Canute 360 – and the mechanics of reading music using refreshable braille.

Purchasing in the UK

• QBraille XL (£2745 ex VAT) from Sight and Sound Technology ltd: call 01604 798070.
• Canute 360 (£1895 ex VAT) and the Goodfeel Braille Music Translator (£1275 ex VAT) from Techno-Vision Systems Ltd: call 01604 792777.