In this episode of the Sound Without Sight podcast, we explore how DiGiCo have made their new range of digital mixing consoles talk, with support from the Audio Accessibility Alliance.
Representatives from DiGiCo demonstrate their technology prototype, codenamed “DiGiVoice”, which aims to make digital mixing workflows accessible to blind and low vision engineers.
We also hear from Jon and Michelle from the Audio Accessibility Alliance.
The team share insight into the development process, plans for further refinement, and for making the technology available more widely.
This podcast was recorded live, at a Sound Without Sight webinar in May 2026.
Catch up on the recording
Summary
1. Project overview
The webinar explored a collaboration between DiGiCo and the Audio Accessibility Alliance (AAA) to make professional digital mixing consoles more accessible to blind and visually impaired audio engineers. The prototype, currently known by the working title “DiGiVoice”, adds spoken feedback to DiGiCo’s Quantum mixing consoles.
DiGiCo develops professional digital consoles for live sound, theatre, broadcast and other audio applications. Its current Quantum range grew from the company’s earlier D and SD series consoles. The accessibility prototype is being developed initially on the Quantum 1, the smallest control surface in the Quantum range, although the underlying technology has potential applications beyond this particular console.
The Audio Accessibility Alliance advocates for equality in audio hardware, software, education and employment, particularly for professionals who are blind or have other disabilities. Its involvement has ensured that development is informed directly by working audio professionals with lived experience of visual impairment.
2. How the collaboration began
The project developed from conversations involving AAA members Michelle Guadalupe Felix Garcia and Jon Lemon and the DiGiCo team. Lemon has worked professionally in live sound for decades while living with Stargardt disease and has extensive experience finding practical ways to operate audio equipment with limited sight.
When DiGiCo’s R&D team was told directly that its consoles were not accessible, Head of R&D Mike Aitchison described recognising that the company had overlooked an important issue. Development of the Quantum 1 created an opportunity to begin addressing it.
Rather than attempting to design accessibility features without specialist input, DiGiCo established an ongoing dialogue with blind and visually impaired engineers. A major theme of the webinar was the importance of co-design: manufacturers need to work with disabled users throughout development rather than simply adding accessibility after a product has been completed.
3. What DiGiVoice currently does
The prototype provides speech feedback for physical and onscreen controls. During the demonstration, touching a fader caused the system to announce information such as the channel name and current level. Mute and solo controls could similarly report their identity and state before an action was taken.
Speech feedback also extended to more complex parameters such as EQ and dynamics. For example, selecting an EQ control could announce the relevant channel, parameter and numerical value. This is especially important because modern digital consoles contain multifunction encoders whose purpose changes depending on the currently selected screen or processing section.
The speech rate can be adjusted to suit individual users. The demonstration also showed that new speech can interrupt an earlier announcement rather than forcing the engineer to wait for every message to finish.
A multitrack recording was played through the console to demonstrate the technology in a more realistic mixing context. Parameters including vocal EQ, channel levels and kick-drum level were adjusted while the prototype announced the relevant controls and values.
4. Designing useful spoken feedback
A key lesson from the discussion was that accessibility involves more than simply making everything on the screen speak.
Digital consoles were historically designed around visual interfaces. Reading a visual interface aloud in exactly the order in which it appears may therefore produce slow, confusing or excessively verbose feedback. Information needs to be reorganised appropriately for listening.
Participants suggested prioritising the information that an engineer needs at that particular moment. For example, when touching a fader, identifying the channel may be more urgent than hearing its exact numerical level. In another situation, such as checking a mute control, its current state might be the most important information.
The eventual system should therefore offer considerable customisation of verbosity and feedback. Experienced engineers may want to disable announcements they no longer need, while newer users may prefer more detailed guidance.
Quickly stopping or switching speech on and off was also suggested. This could potentially be assigned to a programmable console button or even a footswitch.
5. Accessibility beyond speech
Although speech is central to the current prototype, the discussion emphasised that different users access technology differently. Speech alone should not become the definition of accessibility.
Possible future outputs include:
- enlarged text for partially sighted engineers;
- refreshable braille displays;
- braille keyboard input for tasks such as channel labelling;
- screen-reader integration;
- magnification and zoom functions;
- external computers and mobile devices alongside onboard accessibility.
This flexibility is particularly important in live sound because engineers need to listen critically to programme audio. Constant spoken information competing with the mix may not always be desirable.
The project also has potential benefits for sighted engineers. Spoken feedback could reduce the need to look away from performers or the stage, reduce visual fatigue, and provide an additional training tool.
6. Open-source ambitions and industry standards
One of the project’s most significant ambitions is to avoid creating an accessibility solution that works only with DiGiCo products.
Currently, the console generates text describing an action or parameter and sends it over a network connection to a companion application, which converts it into speech. DiGiCo intends eventually to define and share parts of this system, including the communication protocol and voice application, on an open-source basis.
The longer-term vision is that equipment from different manufacturers could communicate with a common accessibility layer. A user might select the manufacturer and device they are operating while retaining familiar accessibility settings and workflows.
DiGiCo hopes this work will encourage accessibility across the wider professional-audio industry, including other mixing-console manufacturers and potentially products such as DJ equipment, synthesizers and wireless microphone systems.
7. Current limitations and future development
Codename DiGiVoice remains a prototype rather than a finished product. Onscreen menus, pop-ups and complex visual structures remain challenging, and the team is still determining how best to represent these through non-visual interaction.
Other areas discussed for future development included Windows support, accessible remote-control applications, onboard speech, multiple languages and improved compatibility with existing assistive technologies.
Retrofitting the technology to older DiGiCo consoles may be difficult, so current development is focused on the modern Quantum platform.
8. Wider significance
The project ultimately addresses more than the accessibility of one mixing console. Accessible equipment needs to be accompanied by accessible training, education and employment opportunities.
Blind engineers currently may have to memorise complex control sequences or rely on workarounds that become unreliable when another user changes a console’s configuration. Built-in accessibility can replace this dependence on memorisation with direct, independent access to information.
The longer-term aim expressed by both AAA and DiGiCo is therefore an audio industry in which accessibility becomes a normal part of product design. Open standards, collaboration between manufacturers, accessible training environments and sustained input from disabled professionals could allow engineers to approach unfamiliar equipment and begin working without disability creating an unnecessary barrier.
Key takeaways
- Accessibility should be built in, not added later. The DiGiVoice project demonstrates the value of considering blind and visually impaired users as part of the core product-design process.
- Co-design is essential. DiGiCo’s collaboration with the Audio Accessibility Alliance brings engineers with lived experience of visual impairment directly into development and testing.
- DiGiVoice provides spoken console feedback. The prototype can identify channels, controls, parameter values and control states, allowing engineers to obtain information that would normally be presented visually.
- Good accessibility is more than reading the screen aloud. Spoken information needs to be prioritised and structured around the engineer’s workflow so that feedback remains fast and useful during live production.
- Users need control over accessibility. Speech rate, verbosity and the type of information announced should be customisable, with quick ways to enable, disable or interrupt feedback.
- Speech is only one accessibility method. Future solutions could combine speech with Braille, enlarged text, screen readers, keyboard input, magnification and external devices.
- Accessibility can benefit everyone. Spoken feedback could also help sighted engineers by reducing visual workload, allowing them to keep their attention on the stage, and supporting training and familiarisation.
- Open standards could have industry-wide impact. DiGiCo’s ambition to open-source elements of the technology could allow other manufacturers to support a common accessibility system rather than developing incompatible solutions independently.
- The project is still evolving. DiGiVoice remains a prototype, with challenges including complex menus, remote applications, operating-system support, multilingual speech and integration with existing assistive technologies.
- The wider goal is equal participation in professional audio. Accessible equipment, training and workplaces can reduce unnecessary barriers and enable blind and visually impaired engineers to work more independently across the industry.
About the Audio Accessibility Alliance (AAA)
AAA’s mission is to empower all audio engineers to reach their full potential. We envision a world where every audio professional has an equal chance to succeed. By levelling the playing field and inspiring leadership to make an inclusive live music industry accessible to all abilities, we strive towards a world where careers in event sound can be pursued with open doors to competitive employment, leading to equal success outcomes.
About Jon Lemon
Jon is an award-winning mixing engineer who has spent decades behind the console with artists including The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Roger Waters, Sia, and Lana Del Rey, among many others. Diagnosed with Stargardts disease at an early age, Jon has navigated the analogue world and experienced firsthand how technology can both open and close doors.
His involvement in the early stages of text-to-speech programs has given him a profound appreciation of including the end-user in the development process. Where sighted audio professionals see barriers, those who are blind or have low vision can discover innovative pathways.
Jon joined the Audio Accessibility Alliance to help create a live sound industry that is more inclusive, practical, and standardized to drive pathways for the best audio professionals to thrive in the industry he has long called home.
About Michelle Guadalupe Felix Garcia
Michelle is a Mexican audio engineer, and a graduate of the San Diego State University Music Recording Technology and Audio Design program.
Michelle’s passion for sound began when she taught herself audio hardware and editing skills at the age of 13. Her live audio career started to take shape four years later, at a Coldplay concert, where she had the chance to play piano with the band, and witness their team working together to bring the show to life.
After graduating with honors, Michelle began advocating for equal employment opportunities by educating others in the industry about the capabilities and competence of audio professionals who are blind or have low vision. Through a 20-video Frequently Asked Questions series about how blind audio professionals work with digital audio workstations, Michelle generated more than half a million views.
Her current goals include becoming a working member of the industry she has helped shape.
Full transcript to follow..
