New framework promotes digital equity and cultural preservation in Global South

Music education across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America is inseparable from cultural identity, often transmitted orally through intricate systems of rhythm, melody, and spiritual symbolism. Yet the shift to online education, exacerbated by the pandemic and driven by platforms like Zoom, Skype, and Google Meet, has failed to preserve this richness. These tools compress audio, introduce excessive latency, and normalize Western standards such as 12-tone equal temperament (12-TET), which distorts microtonal and polyrhythmic traditions foundational to indigenous music.

A transformative new study may redefine the future of digital music education across the Global South by introducing a low-latency, open-source platform designed specifically for regions plagued by infrastructural and cultural disadvantages. Titled "Bridging Cultural and Digital Divides: A Low-Latency JackTrip Framework for Equitable Music Education in the Global South", the research, published on arXiv, proposes a JackTrip-based framework as a realistic, scalable, and culturally sensitive alternative to conventional platforms like Zoom, which often fail in low-resource and high-latency environments.

As music education in many parts of the Global South remains a key medium for cultural transmission, it faces existential threats from modern digital tools that overlook the complexity of non-Western musical systems. The study responds to this dual crisis, technological marginalization and cultural erasure, by systematically comparing the JackTrip protocol to commonly used platforms under simulated adverse conditions, delivering both a technical and cultural case for tailored solutions.

Why do traditional platforms fail in the Global South?

Music education across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America is inseparable from cultural identity, often transmitted orally through intricate systems of rhythm, melody, and spiritual symbolism. Yet the shift to online education, exacerbated by the pandemic and driven by platforms like Zoom, Skype, and Google Meet, has failed to preserve this richness. These tools compress audio, introduce excessive latency, and normalize Western standards such as 12-tone equal temperament (12-TET), which distorts microtonal and polyrhythmic traditions foundational to indigenous music.

Zoom, for instance, is designed for speech clarity, not musical nuance. The platform performs heavy audio compression and prioritizes latency reduction in ways that sacrifice fidelity. According to the study, Zoom’s latency can reach 141 milliseconds in constrained environments, well above the acceptable threshold for real-time music collaboration. Moreover, audio bandwidth is capped at levels (around 192 kbps) that are insufficient for transmitting the full harmonic spectrum critical to musical learning and performance.

On top of these limitations, educators and learners across the Global South contend with a staggering lack of infrastructure. Nearly 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, still lack access to electricity, let alone reliable internet. High latency, packet loss, power outages, and minimal training in digital platforms all compound the problem, marginalizing non-Western musical pedagogy and threatening cultural extinction under the weight of technological imperialism.

How does the JackTrip framework overcome these challenges?

JackTrip is an open-source, UDP-based audio streaming software developed for real-time networked music performance. Unlike centralized, cloud-based platforms, JackTrip leverages edge computing and peer-to-peer architecture to minimize latency. The study demonstrates that JackTrip can deliver sub-30 millisecond latency even under conditions that simulate the poor connectivity typical of rural areas, meeting the strict timing requirements for ensemble performance.

The solution hinges on the use of decentralized, low-cost devices such as Raspberry Pi. These units, being inexpensive and power-efficient, shift computational load from the cloud to the edge, making it possible to run JackTrip in environments with limited bandwidth and unreliable infrastructure. For educators and students in resource-limited regions, this architecture offers a lifeline: minimal setup costs, low energy demands, and significantly improved audio fidelity.

Moreover, JackTrip supports customization. It allows integration with tools like Pure Data (Pd), enabling users to process non-Western tunings, rhythm-sensitive algorithms, and microtonal scales. This flexibility is essential for music traditions like Indian classical ragas or West African poly-rhythms that demand precision in pitch and timing, qualities that Zoom and similar platforms cannot accommodate.

To validate JackTrip’s superiority, the researchers conducted rigorous comparative testing under realistic geographic and network conditions. Two computers were placed 1,000 kilometers apart, connected under simulated 3G and 4G constraints with limited bandwidth and packet loss. Latency was mathematically broken down into transmission, propagation, and processing delays. JackTrip consistently achieved total latency around 26 milliseconds, while Zoom lagged at approximately 141 milliseconds.

Spectral analysis of audio samples revealed further disparities. JackTrip preserved the full frequency range of audio, from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, maintaining rhythmic integrity, microtonal resolution, and harmonic depth. Zoom’s compression severely degraded sounds above 3 kHz, erasing vital musical information and compromising educational authenticity. For learners rooted in cultural music traditions, the choice between JackTrip and Zoom could mean the difference between preservation and erasure.

What broader impact does JackTrip promise for education and culture?

The implications of this study extend beyond technical efficacy. By empowering musicians and educators to connect in real-time without sacrificing cultural nuance, JackTrip offers a path toward decolonizing music education. It helps reverse the dominance of Western pedagogy by enabling local traditions to thrive in digital spaces. Through performances such as the “Changing Tides” telematic concert, JackTrip has already proven its ability to bridge continents and genres, supporting cross-cultural collaboration between Korean, Mexican, and European artists.

For the Global South, where music serves as historical record, community practice, and spiritual ritual, JackTrip is more than a platform, it is a preservation tool. It supports equity by democratizing access to digital education without demanding expensive infrastructure. It also opens new avenues for economic participation in the global music education ecosystem, particularly in regions where conventional schools and conservatories remain inaccessible.

Nevertheless, the study acknowledges barriers to widespread adoption. Hardware affordability, electricity reliability, and training capacity still limit rollout in remote communities. The researchers call for local pilot projects, energy-efficient deployments, and pedagogical co-design with cultural experts to ensure implementation does not overwrite traditional practices.