Development of a rhythmic auditory biofeedback system to assist improving the kinetic chain for bat swing performance

Abstract Baseball has been enjoyed by many generations and there are many people who play the game. Swing speed increases are generally required to develop ideal batting skill; nevertheless, no study has proposed a system to swing speed and develop an idea swing performance kinetic chain using auditory biofeedback, which is often used for motor modification. Thus, the purpose of our study was to devise a system that allows users to develop their kinetic chains and increase swing speeds using auditory cues, and to verify the proposed system’s effect in the bat swing performance of novices. We developed a system that output auditory cues (i.e., sound) linked with body motion. First, we conducted an experiment to confirm whether our proposed method could detect the difference between skilled players and beginners. Second, we applied the system to a tee-batting task in 22 novice baseball players. Using our proposed system, participants could increase swing speed and acquire a better kinetic chain in upper body motion but not in trunk motion. We expect this system is, in part, applicable to developing swing performance that requires sequential motion. This auditory biofeedback system warrants further investigation