Qatar Social and Cultural Center for the Blind organized an information meeting entitled: “Introducing the Blind to the World of Sound Engineering,” to which Yousef Al Hammadi, a technical expert and owner of Pure Technology Company for audio equipment, was invited. The meeting was moderated by Mohammad Abdel Samie, a sound engineer, a reciter, vocalist and one of the Center’s distinguished members.
During the meeting, the participants were introduced to phonetics, sound engineering, sound effects, and the tools required for the blind to access this field.
The lecturer defined sound as a set of sound waves generated and carried on material media such as air to travel through. If the sound reaches a receiver such as the human ear, it can be perceived through the hearing apparatus. The lecturer also exposed sound engineering, through which the necessary devices are operated to capture, transmit and record sound signals, and then rebroadcast them, as is the case in radio and television studios, theater, and the film industry among others.
He explained the importance of studying sound engineering and the creativity involved therein, especially for the blind who depend mainly on hearing, and whose sense of hearing is more sensitive to sounds than anything else, which makes them able to hear low frequencies that cannot be perceived by sighted people. He emphasized the importance of the blind using a set of assistive technologies and the right tools through which they can be creative in this field, including software programs, sound effects and equipment used in recording. He also stressed the importance of choosing the right type of microphone and the number of microphones to be used, and knowing how to process signals from different microphones before mixing them.