Accessible Wind Instruments: Normalizing Breath Control Around Comfort

Jia Wu, Tom Mudd, and Una MacGlone

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

Breath pressure is a core expressive input for digital wind instruments. However, differences in performers’ breath capacity and control stability mean that some users may not access the full range of breath input values or may not sustain higher breath pressures for long periods. This can limit their access to the intended expressive range of the instrument. As part of the development of an accessible digital wind instrument, this paper introduces a normalized breath-pressure scale centered on long-duration comfort. Breath pressure is mapped to a unified control scale, aligning each user’s comfort region into a common space while defining a personalized upper boundary to support comfortable and repeatable use. Implemented in a real-time Arduino–Max/MSP prototype, the approach allows mappings and task thresholds to be specified in terms of this normalized scale, reducing dependence on absolute pressure magnitudes. A small pilot with two older participants illustrates the workflow from calibration and normalized-scale task execution to descriptive analysis of task performance, fatigue ratings, breath signals, and brief post-task feedback. The main contribution is a prototype-level calibration logic organized around comfortable long-duration control, supporting a more interpretable task space for breath-based musical interaction.

Citation

Jia Wu, Tom Mudd, and Una MacGlone. 2026. Accessible Wind Instruments: Normalizing Breath Control Around Comfort. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20784435 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_143,
 abstract = {Breath pressure is a core expressive input for digital wind instruments. However, differences in performers’ breath capacity and control stability mean that some users may not access the full range of breath input values or may not sustain higher breath pressures for long periods. This can limit their access to the intended expressive range of the instrument. As part of the development of an accessible digital wind instrument, this paper introduces a normalized breath-pressure scale centered on long-duration comfort. Breath pressure is mapped to a unified control scale, aligning each user’s comfort region into a common space while defining a personalized upper boundary to support comfortable and repeatable use. Implemented in a real-time Arduino–Max/MSP prototype, the approach allows mappings and task thresholds to be specified in terms of this normalized scale, reducing dependence on absolute pressure magnitudes. A small pilot with two older participants illustrates the workflow from calibration and normalized-scale task execution to descriptive analysis of task performance, fatigue ratings, breath signals, and brief post-task feedback. The main contribution is a prototype-level calibration logic organized around comfortable long-duration control, supporting a more interpretable task space for breath-based musical interaction.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {143},
 author = {Jia Wu and Tom Mudd and Una MacGlone},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20784435},
 editor = {Benedict Gaster and João Tragtenberg and Anna Xambó and Tom Mitchell},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {},
 numpages = {9},
 pages = {1163--1171},
 title = {Accessible Wind Instruments: Normalizing Breath Control Around Comfort},
 track = {paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_143.pdf},
 year = {2026}
}