Augmented Reality to Facilitate Learning of the Acoustic Guitar

[Abstract] Many people wishing to learn a musical instrument opt to learn using alternative or informal methods instead of the traditional Master–Apprentice model that requires a greater cognitive load. This paper presents an augmented reality (AR)-based application designed to teach and train guitar chords, with the novelty that it is also used to teach short melodies consisting of four chord transitions so that users have to change hand and finger positions. The app uses high-quality 3D models of an acoustic guitar and animated hand to indicate correct finger positions and the movements required when changing from one chord to another. To follow the animated instructions, the learner overlaps the 3D model onto the neck of the physical guitar and his or her own hand. A system usability scale (SUS) questionnaire was used to measure the usability of the application. A score of 82.0 was obtained, which is higher than the average of 68 points that indicates the application is good from a user experience perspective, thus satisfying the purpose for which it was created. Having analysed the data for both groups—individuals with no prior experience of playing a musical instrument versus individuals with prior experience—it was concluded that the application provided a useful learning approach for all participants involved in the study, regardless of experience. That said, those possessing prior experience of playing an instrument learnt faster. It should be noted that the research revealed significant difference in learning by gender, with male participants learning faster than female participants. Similar results have been detected in other research performed in the field of music, as well as in other fields. As this study required spatial reasoning when viewing the 3D model, the differences identified this case may well have arisen as a consequence of differences in men and women’s spatial awareness, thereby leaving open an alternative line of research

Intelligent Music Interfaces: When Interactive Assistance and Augmentation Meet Musical Instruments

The interactive augmentation of musical instruments to foster self-expressiveness and learning has a rich history. Over the past decades, the incorporation of interactive technologies into musical instruments emerged into a new research field requiring strong collaboration between different disciplines. The workshop "Intelligent Music Interfaces"consequently covers a wide range of musical research subjects and directions, including (a) current challenges in musical learning, (b) prototyping for improvements, (c) new means of musical expression, and (d) evaluation of the solutions

Space Time Exploration of Musical Instruments

Musical instruments are tools used to generate sounds for musical expression. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) musical instruments create sounds that may be spatially disjointed from the instrument controls. Spatial audio processing can be used to position the Extended Reality (XR) musical instruments and their corresponding sounds in the same space. This dissertation investigates novel ways of combining spatial reverb models to improve the naturalness of XR musical instruments. Seven spatial reverb systems, combinations of a shoebox spatial reverb model, a raytracing spatial reverb model, and measured directional room impulse response convolution reverb, were compared in a pilot study. A novel hybrid system of synthetic early reflections and directional room impulse responses was preferred for naturalness when tested over headphones with three instruments created by the author: AR electric guitar, AR drumset, and VR Singing Kite. This research culminated in a concert, Spherical Sound Search, which showcased the preferred hybrid system, the three XR musical instruments, and four re-contextualized spatial audio effects (spatial looping, spatial delay, spatial feedback, and spatial compression). The three pieces in the concert explored different aspects of XR modalities and presented the novel system with spatial audio effects to a larger audience by rendering to an octophonic loudspeaker layout

Multisensory plucked instrumentmodeling in unity3D: FromKeytar to accurate string prototyping

Keytar is a plucked guitar simulationmockup developed with Unity3D that provides auditory, visual, and haptic feedback to the player through a PhantomOmni robotic arm. Starting froma description of the implementation of the virtual instrument, we discuss our ongoing work. The ultimate goal is the creation of a set of software tools available for developing plucked instruments in Unity3D. Using such tools, sonic interaction designers can efficiently simulate plucked string prototypes and realize multisensory interactions with virtual instruments for unprecedented purposes, such as testing innovative plucked string interfaces or training machine learning algorithms with data about the dynamics of the performance, which are immediately accessible from the machine

AUGMENTED REALITY APPS FOR CHILDREN TO LEARN APHABET THROUGH STORYTELLING

Everybody deserves a proper education. However, there are parents out there struggling to teach their kids to read and write due to their inability to teach them properly. Therefore, this project is going to explore the possibility of using augmented reality combined with storytelling as a medium to teach children to learn alphabet. With the existence of variety of students around us, problems tend to occurs when the teaching and learning process are going on. Students tend to have different learning curve. Sometimes they just refuse to learn altogether. These problems support the designation of this project which is to overcome the cause of illiterate among adults by starting early in terms of learning alphabet using augmented reality and storytelling. Exploring further into the project, analysis, planning, design, testing and implementation are going to be carried out to support the progress of this project. As a result, an android application that is able to support the learning of alphabet through storytelling is going to be built

Benefits of Using Augmented Reality in Learning Settings: A Systematic Literature Review

Over the last years, Augmented Reality (AR) technology has been increasingly used in various settings. Yet, AR is still often considered as experimental, which is partly due to the unclear picture of the benefits of using AR. This study systematically reviews research on using AR in learning settings. By examining 93 relevant articles, we identified 21 benefits related to AR learning gains and outcomes. To obtain a comprehensive and coherent overview of the benefits, we classified them based on Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning. Our analysis shows that the positive effects of using AR on learners’ motivation and joy have been well-studied, whereas the effects on independent learning, concentration, spontaneous learning, critical thinking, and practical skills have not yet been examined in detail. Our study provides directions for future studies on using AR in learning settings and can also help to improve learning designs