British Sign Language in Embodied Music Interaction: An exploratory study of British Sign Language music interpretation

This paper introduces a framework for studying how British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters convey music to hard-of-hearing audiences. It presents a pilot study evaluating the framework and reports initial data analysis. The work emphasises the use of BSL and body movements to communicate a song’s musical and sonic qualities, with or without lyrics. Data collection employed qualitative methods, including online surveys and remote interviews with a music-specialised BSL interpreter, analysed through a grounded theory approach, as well as quantitative methods using custom Python scripts for computer vision and audio analysis. Three BSL professionals specialising in interpreting accessible live concerts for hard-of-hearing audiences participated, providing data for motion capture, facial expressions, hand gestures, and audio analyses (spectral, temporal, and amplitude). The paper discusses framework evaluation, exploratory data analysis, and future research directions. This study offers an initial exploration of how British Sign Language can be used to interpret and communicate musical features, highlighting methodological challenges and opportunities for multimodal accessibility.