Tonal Auditory Discrimination Training in Youths: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Game-Based Versus...

Area of Science:

• Auditory Neuroscience
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Rehabilitation Technology

Background:

• Auditory discrimination training is crucial for hearing rehabilitation.
• Gamification is increasingly used to boost engagement in training.
• The impact of gamification on user experience and performance in auditory training is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and compare a game-based auditory training system against a non-game-based control.
• To evaluate differences in user experience (UX), engagement, usability, and performance between the two systems.

Main Methods:

• Developed two pure-tone auditory discrimination training systems: one game-based, one control.
• Conducted a cross-sectional study with 11 young adults (18-30 years).
• Assessed UX, engagement, usability, and behavioral auditory discrimination performance using questionnaires and objective metrics.

Main Results:

• The game-based system showed significantly higher scores in UX dimensions like attention, aesthetics, and novelty.
• No significant differences in key auditory discrimination performance metrics (response time, accuracy) were observed.
• The game-based system led to superior user engagement, while the non-game-based system had a slight usability advantage.

Conclusions:

• Gamification improves UX and engagement in auditory training without compromising short-term performance.
• Gamified auditory training systems show potential for enhancing user adherence and task effectiveness.
• Further longitudinal studies are needed to confirm sustained auditory benefits.