Richard Burn

Thesis title:

Music-making for the Deaf: Exploring new ways of enhancing musical experience with visual and haptic feedback systems.

My research will focus on exploring new ways of providing musically meaningful multi-sensory feedback; this will be achieved by designing a system which provides an immersive musical/visual/haptic experience for electronic instrument players. I expect to gain a detailed understanding of the specific sensory requirements and expectations of deaf musicians, which will inform the development of innovative visual and haptic feedback systems and contribute to the body of knowledge in sensory impairment. This will also introduce a new level of inclusivity in the field of Human-Computer Interaction.

Research Area

Music

Publications

Dalgleish, M., Payne, C. and Burn, R. (2015) Uchronie: Revisiting Analogue Computing to Expand the Language of A/V Synthesis.
Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA 2015) London, UK, 7 - 9 July 2015 Available from: http://ewic.bcs.org/content/ConWebDoc/54901
Arts Professional Magazine - February 2016 Research positioning article (edited by publisher) http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/my-research-instruments-deaf-musicians
Burn, R. (2016) Music-making for the Deaf: Exploring new ways of enhancing musical experience with visual and haptic feedback systems. International Conference on Live Interfaces (ICLI 2016) Brighton, UK, 29 June to 3 July 2016 Available from: http://www.liveinterfaces.org/proceedings2016.html

Conferences

Rich Exchanges Teaching and Learning Conference - University of Wolverhampton, (2 July 2015). Delivered video demonstration of PS3 controller used for MIDI control of virtual instruments.
RESCON15 - BCU, (11 December 2015). Presented PhD Research positioning paper at BCU's annual Research Conference.
Presented paper to the Doctoral Colloquium of the International Conference on Live Interfaces at the University of Sussex (29 June 2016)

Public Engagement & Impact

Delivered Music Technology Seminar - Conservatoire (15 April 2016)
Delivered Brilliant Club Tutorials to the RSA Academy at University of Warwick (15 June 2016)
Further Brilliant Club tutoring at the RSA Academy in Tipton (12/19 July 2016)

Placements:

Employability Placement with the Brilliant Club.

Starting in July 2016, I spent three months on a full-time placement with the Brilliant Club, where I conducted research into BC tutor recruitment and retention. Data was gathered on tutors, past and present, including M3C tutor engagement. A detailed survey provided qualitative and quantitative data which was analysed and presented in a final report for the BC. The report also included recommendations based on the findings of the analysis.

The project met the majority of my aims and I was able to use survey data to complete some very detailed analysis. From a personal point of view, I gained valuable experience working closely with a worthwhile charity. I was also able to hone management skills and create networking opportunities with a variety of organisations and audiences. I was awarded Student Development Funding to increase the duration of my stipend by three months to allow this full-time departure from my PhD research work.

Media

2015

BCU Press Release picked up by IANS and syndicated to multiple publications in India, for example the Deccan Chronical (circulation 1.3 million): http://www.deccanchronicle.com/151115/lifestyle-booksart/article/watch-music-making-deaf
Live radio interview (23/11/15) on Radio W Columbia's breakfast show.
Research picked up by several international media websites such as Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151118101815.htm

2016

Live radio interview (08/03/16) on BBC Radio Shropshire's breakfast show.

2017

Interviewed for article on deaf musicians by US-based journalist, Josh O'Connor (June 2017) https://dose.com/search/deaf+rock+band/