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Interactive Panel: Accessible Audio Tech

14:00 - 17:00 UTC | Monday 9th November 2026 | Empire
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
In-Person Only

** full agenda to be announced **

The session will include:
- UK premiere of BREAKING BARRIERS (short film about accessible music technology by the MIDI Association)
- Designing inclusively: the Social Model of Disability
- Co-design in practice: a case study 
- Drake Music’s DMLab and Accessible Music Instrument Collection initiatives
- Spotlight session: Making hardware talk - MIDI Assistive Text
- Spotlight session: Open-sourcing accessibility for REAPER
- Spotlight session: How Oeksound got started developing accessibility in Soothe3 and Bloom 
- Additional content from leading manufacturers

Lots of time for Q&A, discussion and interaction.

More info to follow

Jay Pocknell

Music Support Officer

RNIB

Jay is a mixing and mastering engineer, producer, and guitarist. He is also partially sighted, making him a prime contact for matters relating to music and visual accessibility.

He is Music Support Officer at RNIB - the Royal National Institute of Blind People - where he is tasked with improving access to music-making for blind and partially sighted people, including advocating for improved accessibility within music and audio hardware and software.

Jay is the also the founder and Project Manager of Sound Without Sight, a community-driven online hub that connects blind and partially sighted musicians to each other, and to resources, opportunities, and support.

Jay is a graduate of the Music and Sound Recording (Tonmeister) course at the University of Surrey and is credited on several top-10 releases including a UK Number 1 album. He has a proven track record of working with emerging independent artists to help them obtain their first radio plays.

Tim Yates

Research and Innovation Executive

Drake Music

Tim is Research and Innovation Executive at Drake Music, responsible for accessible music technology and instrument development. He is committed to breaking down the barriers to music making faced by Disabled musicians by ensuring that everyone has access to the instruments and technology they need. He is also undertaking a PhD in immersive, interactive sound art-installations using spatial audio at the University of Greenwich. He is a musician, sound-artist, and technologist, and co-founder and co-organiser of Hackoustic.