Sound preferences of persons with hearing loss playing an audio-based computer game

Abstract

We performed an experiment to investigate differences between persons with and without hearing losses when playing a novel audio-based game on a tablet computer, and how persons with hearing losses appreciated the game when they played it with three different types of sound materialspeech, music, or mixed speech and music. We analyzed game log files and participants' self-assessments and obtained results showing that there were significant differences between the two participant groups in terms of whether they completed the game. Moreover, the hearing loss group showed a preference for music among the three types of sounds and for the game itself. The two groups listened to music in different ways: hearing participants worked with the music material differently compared with other two types of material, implying that music is the most difficult among the three types. The hearing loss group showed preference for the music only-condition, which is consistent with the results from preliminary experiments we have done. We suggest that this novel game has the potential to improve the listening ability of persons with a hearing loss.

The Effects of Musical Experience and Hearing Loss on Solving an Audio-Based Gaming Task

“…It is developed for Android devices with touchscreen and uses a Pure data real-time audio engine library [61] (see also [8,9]). Our initial idea was to use music, which means that the purpose of the game is to recompose a musically correct piece of music from fragmented parts of a recording.…”

“…Three were by Japanese composers working in the field of classical music in films, and one was composed by Fauré. They were chosen based on pre-studies of the Music Puzzle, (see e.g., [9]). Before deciding on a recording, we evaluated its suitability by listening to the mix; the main condition was that the speech should be easily legible through the music.…”

Music Puzzle: An Audio-Based Computer Game That Inspires to Train Listening Abilities

“…Any sound recording can be used, depending on the experiment. In our experiments in [2] we have used read poetry, instrumental music and a combination of the reading and the music piece (A, B, A+B). In all, we had four sets of each which were not particularly different.…”

“…[3,4]). Recently we conducted an experiment using an audio-based computer game called the "Music Puzzle", and preliminary results have been reported in [2]. The experiment showed positive results concerning how much time persons with hearing losses are willing to invest in playful hearing training, and that playing the game potentially can improve sound perception and thus appreciation of music.…”

“…Also some of the more aesthetic considerations and choices will be discussed. For experiment results, see [2]. The novelty of the work is how we use music for gaming, and how we investigate differences between solving a task with music stimuli, speech stimuli or the combination of speech and music.…”