The Perception of Sound and Its Influence in the Classroom

Abstract : In this paper we describe a game to assess if the quantitative and graphical perception of sound by students can influence how they behave in the classroom. The game captures sound and shows the sound wave or the frequency spectrum, integrated with an animated character, to students in real time. The quieter the students are the higher the score. A survey was conducted to teachers from an elementary and secondary school to determine if they considered that noise, caused by the students, was a problem. Most of the teachers considered that students make too much noise. All the classes where the game was tested became quieter, thus showing that when these students perceived, in a quantitative way, how much their behavior was disruptive they were more inclined to be quiet or, at least, to reduce the amount of noise.