SOUND IDENTIFICATION TRAINING APPLICATION : An evaluatory study of two training applications for training identification of complex sounds to raise awareness of noise

Abstract: This thesis studied the effects of ear training on motivation and the ability to identify sounds under a layer of pink noise, using two versions of a training application. The first version was a serious game that utilized common game design features with the aim of increasing the player’s motivation to keep playing. The second version, called the basic training application was used as a base-line and modeled after the training method used by Shafiro (2008) in his experiment #2. 14 participants (divided into two groups of 7) were tested on their ability to identify sounds and how motivated they felt to continue training. Results pointed to the basic training application being better at increasing the participants’ sound identification ability, and the serious game being better at retaining the participants’ motivation to keep playing. Future studies should aim to combine features from both versions of the training application.