Rhythm Perception Research Articles

A Serious Game to Train Rhythmic Abilities in Children With Dyslexia: Feasibility and Usability Study.

Rhythm perception and production are related to phonological awareness and reading performance, and rhythmic deficits have been reported in dyslexia. In addition, rhythm-based interventions can improve cognitive function, and there is consistent evidence suggesting that they are an efficient tool for training reading skills in dyslexia. This paper describes a rhythmic training protocol for children with dyslexia provided through a serious game (SG) called Mila-Learn and the methodology used to test its usability. We computed Mila-Learn, an SG that makes training remotely accessible and consistently reproducible and follows an educative agenda using Unity (Unity Technologies). The SG's development was informed by 2 studies conducted during the French COVID-19 lockdowns. Study 1 was a feasibility study evaluating the autonomous use of Mila-Learn with 2500 children with reading deficits. Data were analyzed from a subsample of 525 children who spontaneously played at least 15 (median 42) games. Study 2, following the same real-life setting as study 1, evaluated the usability of an enhanced version of Mila-Learn over 6 months in a sample of 3337 children. The analysis was carried out in 98 children with available diagnoses. Benefiting from study 1 feedback, we improved Mila-Learn to enhance motivation and learning by adding specific features, including customization, storylines, humor, and increasing difficulty. Linear mixed models showed that performance improved over time. The scores were better for older children (P<.001), children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (P<.001), and children with dyslexia (P<.001). Performance improved significantly faster in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (β=.06; t3754=3.91; P<.001) and slower in children with dyslexia (β=-.06; t3816=-5.08; P<.001). Given these encouraging results, future work will focus on the clinical evaluation of Mila-Learn through a large double-blind randomized controlled trial comparing Mila-Learn and a placebo game.

Social interaction links active musical rhythm engagement and expressive communication in autistic toddlers.

Rhythm is implicated in both social and linguistic development. Rhythm perception and production skills are also key vulnerabilities in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism which impact social communication. However, direct links between musical rhythm engagement and expressive communication in autism is not clearly evident. This absence of a direct connection between rhythm and expressive communication indicates that the mechanism of action between rhythm and expressive communication may recruit other cognitive or developmental factors. We hypothesized that social interactions, including general interpersonal relationships and interactive music-making involving children and caregivers, were a significant such factor, particularly in autism. To test this, we collected data from parents of autistic and nonautistic children 14-36 months of age, including parent reports of their children's rhythmic musical engagement, general social skills, parent-child musical interactions, and expressive communication skills. Path analysis revealed a system of independent, indirect pathways from rhythmic musical engagement to expressive communication via social skills and parent-child musical interactions in autistic toddlers. Such a system implies both that social and musical interactions represent crucial links between rhythm and language and that different kinds of social interactions play parallel, independent roles linking rhythmic musical engagement with expressive communication skills.

Temporal Information Processing in the Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia.

Temporal information processing in the range of a few hundred milliseconds to seconds involves the cerebellum and basal ganglia. In this chapter, we present recent studies on nonhuman primates. In the studies presented in the first half of the chapter, monkeys were trained to make eye movements when a certain amount of time had elapsed since the onset of the visual cue (time production task). The animals had to report time lapses ranging from several hundred milliseconds to a few seconds based on the color of the fixation point. In this task, the saccade latency varied with the time length to be measured and showedstochastic variability from one trial to the other. Trial-to-trial variability under the same conditions correlated well with pupil diameter and the preparatory activity in the deep cerebellar nuclei and the motor thalamus. Inactivation of these brain regions delayed saccades when asked to report subsecond intervals. These results suggestthat the internal state, which changes with each trial, may cause fluctuations in cerebellar neuronal activity, thereby producing variations in self-timing. When measuring different time intervals, the preparatory activity in the cerebellum always begins approximately 500ms before movements, regardless of the length of the time interval being measured. However, the preparatory activity in the striatum persists throughout the mandatory delay period, which can be up to 2s, with different rate of increasing activity. Furthermore, in the striatum, the visual response and low-frequency oscillatory activity immediately before time measurement were altered by the length of the intended time interval. These results indicate that the state of the network, including the striatum, changes with the intended timing, which lead to different time courses of preparatory activity. Thus, the basal ganglia appear to be responsible for measuring time in the range of several hundred milliseconds to seconds, whereas the cerebellum is responsible for regulating self-timing variability in the subsecond range. The second half of this chapter presents studies related to periodic timing. During eye movements synchronized with alternating targets at regular intervals, different neurons in the cerebellar nuclei exhibit activity related to movement timing, predicted stimulus timing, and the temporal error of synchronization. Among these, the activity associated with target appearance is particularly enhanced during synchronized movements and may represent an internal model of the temporal structure of stimulus sequence. We also considered neural mechanism underlying the perception of periodic timing in the absence of movement. During perception of rhythm, we predict the timing of the next stimulus and focus our attention on that moment. In the missing oddball paradigm, the subjects had to detect the omission of a regularly repeated stimulus. When employed in humans, the results show that the fastest temporal limit for predicting each stimulus timing is about 0.25s (4Hz). In monkeys performing this task, neurons in the cerebellar nuclei, striatum, and motor thalamus exhibit periodic activity, with different time courses depending on the brain region. Since electrical stimulation or inactivation of recording sites changes the reaction time to stimulus omission, these neuronal activities must be involved in periodic temporal processing. Future research is needed to elucidate the mechanism of rhythm perception, which appears to be processed by both cortico-cerebellar and cortico-basal ganglia pathways.

Estimating Time and Rhythm byPredicting External Stimuli.

In this chapter, we present recent findings from our group showing that elapsed time, interval timing, and rhythm maintenance might be achieved by the well-known ability of the brain to predict the future states of the world. The difference between predictions and actual sensory evidence is used to generate perceptual and behavioral adjustments that help subjects achieve desired behavioral goals. Concretely, we show that (1) accumulating prediction errors is a plausible strategy humans could use to determine whether a train of consecutive stimuli arrives at regular or irregular intervals. By analyzing the behavior of human and non-human primate subjects performing rhythm perception tasks, we demonstrate that (2) the ability to estimate elapsed time and internally maintain rhythms is shared across primates and humans. Neurophysiological recordings show that (3) the medial premotor cortex engages in rhythm entrainment and maintains oscillatory activity that reveals an internal metronome's spatial and temporal characteristics. Finally, we demonstrate that (4) the amplitude of gamma oscillations within this cortex increases proportionally to the total elapsed time. In conjunction with our most recent experiments, our results suggest that timing might be achieved by an internal simulation of the sensory stimuli and the motor commands that define the timing task that needs to be performed.

Research on Pattern Recognition Technology for Music Teaching and Optimization of Its Teaching Framework

Abstract This paper proposes music rhythm perception technology and music automatic classification technology, respectively, which are pattern recognition technologies for music teaching. The short-time Fourier transform is used to analyze the audio information, transform the acoustic spectrogram into a Mel spectrogram, build the convolutional neural network architecture, and process the spectrogram sequentially to realize the automatic classification of music. The music signal is preprocessed to remove noise using normalization, and a new histogram-based method is proposed to detect music rhythms by analyzing and modeling the music beat sequence. This paper uses S High School in Qujing City, Yunnan Province, China, as the research site to implement pattern recognition technology in teaching practice. The experimental class’s music scores increased from 50.18 before the experiment to 64.52, which was higher than the control class’s, with a 28.58% increase. The experimental class’s mean values in the sentence and paragraph dimensions of music rhythmic sense, the mean values of the experimental class were 0.73 and 0.65 higher than those of the control class, showing significant differences (P&lt;0.05). All dimensions of music core literacy, except opera knowledge and general knowledge of musical instruments, also showed significant differences (P&lt;0.05).

Pattern recognition study of musical rhythm perception based on multimodal deep learning

Abstract Rhythm perception is becoming more and more important in the field of music information processing and music understanding. The study first adopts signal processing methods to extract musical features, then uses feature fusion techniques to integrate features of different modalities into a single feature vector. Based on this model, the study identifies the rhythmic activation function of music and combines it with the hidden Markov model to infer the rhythm of the music. One of the key points of the study is to perform rhythm recognition on music containing drums, to explore the recognition effect. One of the focuses of the study is to recognize the rhythm of music containing drums to explore the recognition effect.In addition, the study also analyzes the Softmax output values of the music and compares the recognition effect of different models. The results show that the rhythm recognition of music using the multimodal deep learning method performs the best in terms of the F-Measure value, the Cemgil value, the Goto value, and the P-score value, with the respective 65.65%, 66.76%, 36.75%, and 36.75%. 66.76%, 36.75%, and 75.68%.Especially in the drum music recognition, the position of each drum music is accurately recognized, proving the model’s effectiveness in this paper. The research provides a new feasible method for the recognition and understanding of music rhythms and a valuable reference for the research in this field.

Design and Development of Sound and Rhythm Perception Assessment Application for Students with Hearing Impairment

Technology use is becoming increasingly popular in life, including in educational aspects. Some widely used applications in education include metaverse, blended learning, game learning, cloud-based learning, mobile applications, and social media learning. Apps are generally in the form of software applications or programs designed to run on smartphones. In this study, we propose using applications in assessing children with hearing impairments at school. Design and Development of the Sound and Rhythm Perception Assessment Application uses the ADDIE development model of Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. The test subjects in this study were validation test subjects consisting of 3 experts to test the feasibility of the application. Data was collected through a questionnaire in the form of a tool tested for validity and reliability with a score of 90.1% for learning design, 88.9% for layout, and 94.7% for software. Validation was carried out through focus group discussions. The application was tested on four teachers who teach students with hearing impairments. The results of the main field experiment show that teachers can use the application to help them assess students with hearing loss. With availability, the accuracy of the Design and Development of the Sound and Rhythm Perception Assessment Application can be further improved by conducting training with more teachers who teach children with hearing impairments at school.

Design and Development of Sound and Rhythm Perception Assessment Application for Students with Hearing Impairment

Technology use is becoming increasingly popular in life, including in educational aspects. Some widely used applications in education include metaverse, blended learning, game learning, cloud-based learning, mobile applications, and social media learning. Apps are generally in the form of software applications or programs designed to run on smartphones. In this study, we propose using applications in assessing children with hearing impairments at school. Design and Development of the Sound and Rhythm Perception Assessment Application uses the ADDIE development model of Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. The test subjects in this study were validation test subjects consisting of 3 experts to test the feasibility of the application. Data was collected through a questionnaire in the form of a tool tested for validity and reliability with a score of 90.1% for learning design, 88.9% for layout, and 94.7% for software. Validation was carried out through focus group discussions. The application was tested on four teachers who teach students with hearing impairments. The results of the main field experiment show that teachers can use the application to help them assess students with hearing loss. With availability, the accuracy of the Design and Development of the Sound and Rhythm Perception Assessment Application can be further improved by conducting training with more teachers who teach children with hearing impairments at school.

Design and Development of Sound and Rhythm Perception Assessment Application for Students with Hearing Impairment

Technology use is becoming increasingly popular in life, including in educational aspects. Some widely used applications in education include metaverse, blended learning, game learning, cloud-based learning, mobile applications, and social media learning. Apps are generally in the form of software applications or programs designed to run on smartphones. In this study, we propose using applications in assessing children with hearing impairments at school. Design and Development of the Sound and Rhythm Perception Assessment Application uses the ADDIE development model of Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. The test subjects in this study were validation test subjects consisting of 3 experts to test the feasibility of the application. Data was collected through a questionnaire in the form of a tool tested for validity and reliability with a score of 90.1% for learning design, 88.9% for layout, and 94.7% for software. Validation was carried out through focus group discussions. The application was tested on four teachers who teach students with hearing impairments. The results of the main field experiment show that teachers can use the application to help them assess students with hearing loss. With availability, the accuracy of the Design and Development of the Sound and Rhythm Perception Assessment Application can be further improved by conducting training with more teachers who teach children with hearing impairments at school.

Linking vestibular, tactile, and somatosensory rhythm perception to language development in infancy

First experiences with rhythm occur in the womb, with different rhythmic sources being available to the human fetus. Among sensory modalities, vestibular, tactile, and somatosensory perception plays a crucial role in early processing. However, a limited number of studies so far have specifically focused on VTS rhythms in language development. The present work investigated VTS rhythmic abilities and their role in language acquisition through two experiments with 45 infants (21 females, sex assigned at birth; M age = 661.6 days, SD = 192.6) with middle/high socioeconomic status. Specifically, 37 infants from the original sample completed Experiment 1, assessing VTS rhythmic abilities through a vibrotactile tool for music perception. In Experiment 2, linguistic abilities were evaluated in 40 participants from the same cohort, specifically testing phonological and prosodic processing. Discrimination abilities for rhythmic and linguistic stimuli were inferred from changes in pupil diameter to contingent visual stimuli over time, through a Tobii X-60 eye-tracker. The predictive effect of VTS rhythmic abilities on linguistic processing and the developmental changes occurring across ages were explored in the 32 infants who completed both Experiments 1 and 2 by means of generalized, additive and linear, mixed-effect models. Results are discussed in terms of cross-sensory (i.e., haptic to hearing) and cross-domain (i.e., music to language) effects of rhythm on language acquisition, with implications for typical and atypical development.

Individual differences in rhythm perception modulate music-related motor learning: a neurobehavioral training study with children

Rhythm and motor function are intrinsically linked to each other and to music, but the rhythm-motor interplay during music training, and the corresponding brain mechanisms, are underexplored. In a longitudinal training study with children, we examined the role of rhythm predisposition in the fine motor improvements arising from music training, and which brain regions would be implicated. Fifty-seven 8-year-olds were assigned to either a 6-month music training (n = 21), sports training (n = 18), or a control group (n = 18). They performed rhythm and motor tasks, and structural brain scans before and after training were collected. Better ability to perceive rhythm before training was related to less gray matter volume in regions of the cerebellum, fusiform gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, ventral diencephalon, amygdala, and inferior/middle temporal gyri. Music training improved motor performance, and greater improvements correlated with better pre-training rhythm discrimination. Music training also induced a loss of gray matter volume in the left cerebellum and fusiform gyrus, and volume loss correlated with higher motor gains. No such effects were found in the sports and control groups. In summary, children with finer-tuned rhythm perception abilities were prone to finer motor improvements through music training, and this rhythm-motor link was to some extent subserved by the left cerebellum and fusiform gyrus. These findings have implications for models on music-related plasticity and rhythm cognition, and for programs targeting motor function.

Rhythm and Reading Abilities

This study was conducted to investigate the previously indicated causal relationship between reading impairment and difficulties in rhythm perception in an adult sample. In our study the comparison was made between the family risk for dyslexia and the no-risk for dyslexia groups to assess the possibility of shared risk factors. We hypothesized that a relationship exists between reading deficits and lower performance in rhythm perception within the family risk for dyslexia participant group. The participants were young adults (N = 119, aged from 20 to 48 years old). We assessed the reading abilities, rhythm perception performance and memory performance, and sensorimotor music reward experiences of our participants. Our results indicate that in adulthood rhythm perception appears to correlate with aspects of memory function, rather than with measures of reading fluency. Our results also suggest an indirect relationship between rhythm perception and word text reading fluency through short-term memory within the family risk for dyslexia group. A weak positive correlation between sensorimotor musical reward experience and pseudoword reading fluency was detected as well. We suggest family risk for dyslexia as an additional variable in future research.

Cognitive functioning predicts learning and performance of syncopated rhythms in healthy aging adults

AbstractBackgroundRhythmic music making may be beneficial for maintenance of healthy executive functioning and processing speed throughout the aging process. However, little is known about how engagement with rhythmic music making associates with healthy executive functioning and processing speed. This study aimed to determine the predictive potential of learning and performance of rhythms upon performance in executive functioning and processing speed tasks.MethodThis study involved a cross‐sectional, non‐randomized within subjects design, defined by a rhythmic musical activity (RMA), and executive functioning (EF) and processing speed (PS) tasks. The RMA involved thirty progressively syncopated rhythms, operationalized via three learning trials and a performance trial. The EF and PS tasks included multiple subtests of the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Working Memory and Processing Speed Indices (WMI &amp; PSI), and Trail Making Parts A&amp;B.ResultHealthy younger (ages 18‐35) and elderly (ages 55‐89) individuals provided informed consent and participated (N = 60; 46 female; 78.3% Caucasian). Learning and performance of syncopated rhythms between age groups significantly predicted scores on the WAIS PSI (t = 2.227/2.101, p = 0.030/0.040) and Trails A&amp;B (t = ‐3.431/‐4.155, p = 0.003/&lt;0.001; t = ‐3.636/‐4.256, p = &lt;0.001/&lt;0.001). Only rhythm learning predicted scores on WAIS WMI (t = 2.821, p = 0.007), with a trend shown for rhythm performance (t = 1.934, p = 0.059).ConclusionThis study is one of few to show relationships between rhythm perception and executive functioning in healthy aging. The results suggest the potential value of rhythmic music making upon maintenance of healthy executive functioning and processing speed throughout the aging process. A longitudinal study involving a control group and a larger sample size may enhance the findings of this study. Additionally, application to the Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias populations may provide comparative evidence to the healthy aging population.

Preliminary Insight on Neural Correlates of Quranic Impacts on Cognition: A Review

Perception and synchronization of rhythms are vital for human health and social functioning, and cognition, which calls for rhythmic acoustic stimulation as a potential therapy. Quranic sound contains high energy and rhythmic structure of sound signal which has a soothing effect, comfort human feeling and evokes the limbic and reward systems. However, less is known about how the neural interaction between brain rhythms and sound rhythms. Here we review the Quranic listening effects on human cognition from the neuronal correlates perspective. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) was used to review articles from no earlier than 2000 for scientific reports in the English language. Navigation terms used were ‘Quran and cognition’, ‘Quran and memory’ and ‘Quran and attention’. Nine papers were fulfilled our criteria and assessed. We discussed issues related to the neural correlations regarding Quranic impacts on cognition. Three main factors contribute to the effects of the Quranic listening on human cognition: linguistic rhythms, physical aspect, and neuroscientific aspect. The neuroscientific aspect delineated the brain activation due to brainwave entrainment, event-related desynchronization and synaptic plasticity, which were associated with attention, memory and speech fluency. Quranic recitation contains rhythmical sound and physical characteristics that interact with the human’s auditory system, producing changes in the brain oscillations and improving cognitive performance such as attention, memory and speech fluency. Instead of a conclusion, it is hoped that this review entices other researchers to explore further scientific and health benefits of the Holy Quran.

Auditory rhythm complexity affects cardiac dynamics in perception and synchronization

Accurate perception and production of auditory rhythms are key for human behaviors such as speech and music. Auditory rhythms in music range in their complexity: complex rhythms (based on non-integer ratios between successive tone durations) are more difficult to perceive and produce than simple rhythms (based on integer ratios). The physiological activity supporting this behavioral difference is not well understood. In a within-subjects design, we addressed how rhythm complexity affects cardiac dynamics during auditory perception and production. Musically trained adults listened to and synchronized with simple and complex auditory rhythms while their cardiac activity was recorded. Participants identified missing tones in the rhythms during the Perception condition and tapped on a keyboard to synchronize with the rhythms in the Synchronization condition. Participants were equally accurate at identifying missing tones in simple and complex rhythms during the Perception condition. Tapping synchronization was less accurate and less precise with complex rhythms than with simple rhythms. Linear cardiac analyses showed a slower mean heart rate and greater heart rate variability during perception than synchronization for both simple and complex rhythms; only nonlinear recurrence quantification analyses reflected cardiac differences between simple and complex auditory rhythms. Nonlinear cardiac dynamics were also more deterministic (predictable) during rhythm perception than synchronization. Individual differences during tapping showed that greater heart rate variability was correlated with poorer synchronization. Overall, these findings suggest that linear measures of musicians’ cardiac activity reflect global task variability while nonlinear measures additionally reflect stimulus rhythm complexity.

Individual differences in neural markers of beat processing relate to spoken grammar skills in six-year-old children

Based on the idea that neural entrainment establishes regular attentional fluctuations that facilitate hierarchical processing in both music and language, we hypothesized that individual differences in syntactic (grammatical) skills will be partly explained by patterns of neural responses to musical rhythm. To test this hypothesis, we recorded neural activity using electroencephalography (EEG) while children (N = 25) listened passively to rhythmic patterns that induced different beat percepts. Analysis of evoked beta and gamma activity revealed that individual differences in the magnitude of neural responses to rhythm explained variance in six-year-olds’ expressive grammar abilities, beyond and complementarily to their performance in a behavioral rhythm perception task. These results reinforce the idea that mechanisms of neural beat entrainment may be a shared neural resource supporting hierarchical processing across music and language and suggest a relevant marker of the relationship between rhythm processing and grammar abilities in elementary-school-age children, previously observed only behaviorally.

Music and speech time perception of musically trained individuals: The effects of audio type, duration of musical training, and rhythm perception.

The perception of time is a subjective experience influenced by various factors such as individual psychology, external stimuli, and personal experiences, and it is often assessed with the use of the reproduction task that involves individuals estimating and reproducing the duration of specific time intervals. In the current study, we examined the ability of 97 musically trained participants to reproduce the durations of temporal intervals that were filled with music or speech stimuli. The results revealed a consistent pattern of durations being underestimated, and an association was observed between the duration of musical training and the level of accuracy in reproducing both music and speech tracks. In addition, speech tracks were overall reproduced more accurately, and as longer, than music tracks. Structural models suggested the presence of two, highly correlated, dimensions of time perception for speech and music stimuli that were related to the duration of musical training, but not with self-reported rhythm perception. The possible effects of arousal and pleasantness of stimuli on time perception are discussed within the framework of an internal clock model.

The development of rhythmic categories as revealed through an iterative production task

Both humans and non-humans (e.g. birds and primates) preferentially produce and perceive auditory rhythms with simple integer ratios. In addition, these preferences (biases) tend to reflect specific integer-ratio rhythms that are common to one's cultural listening experience. To better understand the developmental trajectory of these biases, we estimated children's rhythm biases across the entire rhythm production space of simple (e.g., ratios of 1, 2, and 3) three-interval rhythms. North American children aged 6–11 years completed an iterative rhythm production task, in which they attempted to tap in synchrony with repeating three-interval rhythms chosen randomly from the space. For each rhythm, the child's produced rhythm was presented back to them as the stimulus, and over the course of 5 such iterations we used their final reproductions to estimate their rhythmic biases or priors. Results suggest that regardless of the initial rhythm, after 5 iterations, children's tapping converged on rhythms with (nearly) simple integer ratios, indicating that, like adults, their rhythmic priors consist of rhythms with simple-integer ratios. Furthermore, the relative weights (or prominence of different rhythmic priors) observed in children were highly correlated with those of adults. However, we also observed some age-related changes, especially for the ratio types that vary most across cultures. In an additional rhythm perception task, children were better at detecting rhythmic disruptions to a culturally familiar rhythm (in 4/4 m with 2:1:1 ratio pattern) than to a culturally unfamiliar rhythm (7/8 m with 3:2:2 ratios), and performance in this task was correlated with tapping variability in the iterative task. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that children as young as 6-years-old exhibit simple integer-ratio categorical rhythm priors in their rhythm production that closely resemble those of adults in the same culture.

Examining cortical tracking of the speech envelope in post-stroke aphasia.

People with aphasia have been shown to benefit from rhythmic elements for language production during aphasia rehabilitation. However, it is unknown whether rhythmic processing is associated with such benefits. Cortical tracking of the speech envelope (CTenv) may provide a measure of encoding of speech rhythmic properties and serve as a predictor of candidacy for rhythm-based aphasia interventions. Electroencephalography was used to capture electrophysiological responses while Spanish speakers with aphasia (n = 9) listened to a continuous speech narrative (audiobook). The Temporal Response Function was used to estimate CTenv in the delta (associated with word- and phrase-level properties), theta (syllable-level properties), and alpha bands (attention-related properties). CTenv estimates were used to predict aphasia severity, performance in rhythmic perception and production tasks, and treatment response in a sentence-level rhythm-based intervention. CTenv in delta and theta, but not alpha, predicted aphasia severity. Neither CTenv in delta, alpha, or theta bands predicted performance in rhythmic perception or production tasks. Some evidence supported that CTenv in theta could predict sentence-level learning in aphasia, but alpha and delta did not. CTenv of the syllable-level properties was relatively preserved in individuals with less language impairment. In contrast, higher encoding of word- and phrase-level properties was relatively impaired and was predictive of more severe language impairments. CTenv and treatment response to sentence-level rhythm-based interventions need to be further investigated.

Can you feel the rhythm? Comparing vibrotactile and auditory stimuli in the rhythm video game Jump‘n'Rhythm

ABSTRACT Rhythm is essential in early music education. To acquire rhythm abilities, the synchronisation between body and rhythm patterns is fundamental. Extensive research has shown the link between the auditory-motor system and rhythm acquisition; however, other sensorimotor systems also improve rhythm skills. Rhythm acquisition can be trained using new technologies, such as video games; however, most of these use mainly auditory stimuli to improve it. Therefore, in this work, we explore tactile stimuli to improve rhythm skills using a video game and how visual elements affect rhythm perception using different stimuli. We evaluate and compare the synchronisation of 27 participants following either vibrotactile or auditory stimuli emitted through a rhythm video game in two difficulty levels and we evaluated the user experience. Consistent with the literature, our results indicate that participants synchronised slightly better using auditory than vibrotactile stimuli and players’ performance was better when they had visual guides. A fatigue effect persisted and increased over playtime in both conditions. In the current study, usability measures indicate no significant differences. These findings suggest that vibrotactile stimuli are also suitable to train rhythm skills in a video game environment and the game-elements play an important role in players' performance.