Flute Optics: Auditory Tone Color Pedagogy with Feedback-Based Visual Learning Tools

Overview

This study examines how augmented feedback influences human learning in complex auditory-motor skill acquisition, using flute tone color production as a model system. Tone color is a subjective perceptual construct that is difficult to evaluate without expert guidance, making it ideal for studying how individuals interpret and respond to feedback. To address this, I developed Flute Optics, a tool that converts acoustic features such as spectral centroid, harmonic strength, frequency, and amplitude into real-time visual and numerical feedback, enabling users to externalize and interpret their performance. A randomized controlled trial (n=169, 62 participants) compared an experimental group using Flute Optics against a control group with solely inherent feedback. In each trial, participants had three attempts to match a target sound with different variants of feedback. The augmented visual-numeric feedback significantly enhanced learning speed (p<0.001, d=0.66) and reduced error across successive attempts (p=0.0008). Participants rated the numeric feedback as more helpful than static verbal instructions (p<0.001, d=0.61). These findings demonstrate that structured, multimodal feedback improves perceptual learning by reducing cognitive ambiguity and enhancing error detection. This project contributes to behavioral science by showing how external feedback systems reshape human learning strategies, with broader implications for education, skill training, and accessible instruction.

Competition history

• CSEF 2026 Behavioral & Social Sciences (Senior Division) · Entry S-03-31

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Behavioural and Social Sciences projects
• CSEF Behavioural and Social Sciences projects
• Every CSEF 2026 project