LISTENING to music is a pleasure many of us take for granted.

Imagine though if you couldn't hear the beautiful sounds and beats; imagine if your world was literally silent.

For those who are born deaf the pleasure of music may not have been accessible and the experience may well have been missed - until now.

Launched in Bradford in January, Frequalise is a ground-breaking project designed to engage deaf and hard of hearing children in using digital technology to create and perform their own music.

Working in partnership with Bradford PRISM Youth Project and the University of Huddersfield, the project is engaging deaf children in Bradford and Calderdale in music-making apps for smartphones and tablets and computer-based software.

Funded by Youth Music, a music funding charity, and the cochlear implant company, MED-EL, Frequalise forms part of Music and the Deaf, a national charity set up nearly 30 years ago by profoundly deaf musician, Dr Paul Whitaker OBE to provide musical opportunities for children and adults who live with any degree of hearing loss.

According to Music and the Deaf, there are more than 45,000 deaf children living in the UK (NDCS); 40 per cent of Deaf children experience mental health problems compared to 25 per cent of other children (NDCS Briefing 2013) and deaf young people are often completed excluded from music-making in schools.

Danny Lane, artistic director for the Music and the Deaf, based in Halifax, and the Frequalise project, can empathise with the fact that many deaf people think music isn't for them.

He says he faced many barriers. "But there is nothing to stop me from loving music. It is a deep-rooted passion for me and I am lucky I got that exposure with it watching music on TV, now looking at it on Youtube, I can still see now so many young deaf people who have limited experience of music and more needs to be done about this."

Around 20 children have been regularly attending the weekly Frequalise sessions held from 7 until 9pm on Wednesdays at the PRISM Youth Project in Walker Drive, Girlington, Bradford.

Aimed at deaf children aged eight and upwards, regardless of their level of hearing loss, Danny explains the project is about encouraging them to access and enjoy music whether composing or sharing their own music and performing using the technology such as tablets or mobile phones.

Vibration through speakers or graphics displayed on screens can enhance a deaf person's musical experience.

"We really want to encourage young people to enjoy the opportunity. It is an option now where it wasn't before and it was a big barrier. We want them to perform, to celebrate their achievements. We want to raise awareness with people coming to watch them and to realise they can become musicians themselves," says Danny.

Interestingly, he says the project has also attracted some celebrity attention - but he's staying tight-lipped on any more information.

"I think everybody is aware that technology is very fast changing and surrounds most of our lives. We are using it much more now so we are exploring the potential of using that and opening that up for the world of music and also to engage deaf people to enjoy music because why shouldn't they?

"The feedback has been wonderful from the young people themselves. They have already composed a piece of music."

The workshops run until June culminating in a group performance of the music the young people have created.

Music and the Deaf will compile a report of their findings throughout the project which is expected to be debated during a seminar in November.

Danny says as well as running the workshops, Frequalise is also hoping to encourage schools to get involved.

"I think it has stirred up a lot of interest already," says Danny, who hopes to eventually roll the scheme out to other areas.

"We would like to continue not only in Bradford and Halifax but to roll it out in others areas of the country so we can create a legacy for it."

Helen Lynch, leader in charge at the PRISM Youth Project, says it is often assumed deaf children cannot enjoy music and be able to play musical instruments: "But they can," she adds.

"It is giving them the opportunity to try different aspects of music, to introduce them to it and to show them if this is something you want to try and do you are able to do it like a hearing person."

For more information about Music and the Deaf call 01422 734026 or visit matd.org.uk. To find out more about the sessions at the PRISM Youth Project call 01274 487633.