Ears are much more important for eq'ing a bass amp. Though obviously, seeing the knobs is important, I would think a blind bassist could get good tone just by listening.
By listening, duh.
If they didn't use their ears -- and this goes for sighted bassists as well as blind bassists -- they wouldn't know in the first place that they wanted to bump 150 hertz versus 500k (sic).
Not even. The effect of EQ is meant to be heard, not seen, either literally or in a tactile sense. If it sounds good it is good. Way too many players have lost sight of that fact and adjust EQ with their eyes instead of their ears.
Do you guys set your tone every time you go to play by listening? I know I don't. I know what sounds good in a given room with a given bass for a certain kind of music, and I dial that tone in by looking at the knobs and turning them to the right points. Obviously I had to use my ears at one point to determine what sounded good, but every time after I start with what I remember sounded good and then adjust according to what my ears are telling me. Starting from scratch every time with just my ears would take me many times longer to set my tone than starting with what I knew was close to what I wanted.
The objective, as human factors people are concerned, is not to allow blind users "to get by" with what's out there but to be able to set their tone as easily and quickly as sighted users, or at least as close as possible.
Hoover, I see your point, but i've also seen countless threads where some newb is trying to "find that mix-cutting, punchy tone" or whatever, and the most informative replies are something to the effect of "I find that putting a bump in my mids around frequency X helps." Serious bass players undeniably use wavelength values as tools for finding good tone and talking about good tone, and i'd like to allow blind players to be able to do the same.
As others have said, just use knobs with tactile reference points, such as
these. Label the reference points in braille.
To the OP:
What exactly is your assignment? I mean, you are probably right that with a graphic EQ ironically it's easier for blind people to get a visual in their head of their eq curve, but that's not really revolutionary. They've got graphic EQ's already. You are looking for ways to improve on that design? Or are you looking for a totally new method of EQ'ing?
The assignment is to practice universal design by creating products that tailor to the needs of all types of users. We're focusing on designing for the blind because we have a local resource for blind research that my university has established a relationship with over the years.
A graphic EQ is certainly not revolutionary. And as far as I can tell they're used less and less as time goes on, but the same goes for buttons on a cell phone, and blind people simply can't use iPhones. I see the advantage of a graphic EQ being that it's easier for the blind to visualize the EQ curve than with 3 knobs (pointed or unpointed), it offers the user finer adjustability with 8-10 bands as opposed to 3 or 4 (closer to the finer adjustability of a parametric, but easier to use), and finally, when faced with a sea of identically shaped and sized knobs, al located the same distance apart from each other, the graphic EQ helps the blind user to easily distinguish between the EQ section and controls that have completely different function (gain, compressor, etc.).
Also, as this product will never be produced, we're not as concerned with pricepoint and ease of manufacture (3 pot EQ vs. 8 pot graphic EQ) as a professional would, although its still important to consider.
i would assume a graphic EQ with reference points in braille would be rather easy to use.
probably more complicated to make however.
After talking to some blind people in a local universal access advocacy organization, we found that somewhere between 15-20 percent of blind people can read braille. This is mostly due to the low quality of blind education in public schools but regardless, throwing some braille on a product continues to exclude the majority of the user's were trying to make products available for.
EDIT: I should say, adding braille would not really exclude users, but focusing on braille alone as a design solution would not solve the given problems for a very large range portion of the currently excluded user group.
Too bad Markbass has no model with graphic EQ, their products seem to be designed with the blind in mind.
Seriously, I think blind people are used to handling more complicated things than a parametric EQ.
They most certainly are. One of the guys we met with was completely proficient in a shop environment. (lathe, table saw, joiner, band saw, etc.) But as I said, I'm trying to make the bass amp as easy as possible for a blind person to use, rather than designing something they
can use. Although that guy never lost a finger in the shop, he was certainly put at greater risk because the products were not designed with the blind in mind.
Anyway, thanks for the replies. This is helping a lot. If you continue to disagree with me after my explanation, please keep arguing.
