Airstrument Translates Gestures Into Music To Make Music Making More Accessible

Sound artist Matan Berkowitz shared this TED Talk, which focuses on his work with the Airstrument, a wearable motion-controlled instrument, designed with people with special needs in mind.

“The Airstrument turns hand movements into music,” he notes, “and stems from years of working with people with disabilities, developing devices that enable blind, amputated, autistic and paralyzed musicians to express themselves in new ways.”

The Airstrument is being tested as a musical, gamified platform for hand rehabilitation, in collaboration with hospitals and NGOs in Israel, India and Costa Rica.

Berkowitz is also co-founder, along with Roy Tal, of DisCoTech, an event dedicated to the creation of music technology for people with special needs:

You can find out more about Berkowitz and his work via his site and his Facebook page.

4 thoughts on “Airstrument Translates Gestures Into Music To Make Music Making More Accessible

  1. Kudos to the developers for identifying a meaningful application for this sort of technology.

    I could see how this could open up a whole new world for some people.

    Also – the DiscoTech event looks brilliant!

  2. I need cochlear implants in both ears, with a way to ‘reverse’ the signal to go out from my brain into an amplifier and out of a loudspeaker so that I can *think* my MusiK out loud. Meanwhile, I’ll settle for a set up like this, or a full-body digital SoundGlove so I can dance like a ROBOT and my movements would create MusiK. Around 1974, KRAFTWERK experimented with using hand motions to break beams of light to create SOUNDS. Then they recorded traffic noise and made the AUTOBAHN album. 😀

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