TouchTone: an electronic musical instrument for children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy

Children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy often lack the physical skills to explore their environment independently, express feelings, communicate, and successfully participate in social activities. Creative music therapy aims to improve this situation by specifically addressing the emotional and social needs of these children. However, to be successful at these levels, the children need to have basic control over the musical instruments used in the therapy sessions. Traditional acoustic musical instruments demand high levels of sensori-motor coordination and precision making them difficult to control – thus affecting the efficacy of music therapy. Executed during the Master Design for Interaction at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft, TouchTone is an electronic musical instrument designed with a vision to develop musical ability, develop bimanual coordination and increase social participation of children with hemiplegia. Author Keywords Electronic musical instrume...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: TEI
• Authors: Soumitra Bhat
• Keywords: Cerebral Palsy, Electronic Musical Instrument, Hardware, Musical Instrument, TEI 2010