Training vocal volume control in children : visual analogy and real-time visual feedback

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate children’s vocal volume control abilities over soft, medium, and loud volumes across language contexts, and to evaluate whether visual analogy and real-time visual feedback would be effective in training vocal volume control across language contexts for children. Twenty-two children were recruited and matched before being assigned into visual analogy and real-time visual feedback groups. The training stimuli included rote speech, reading aloud of sentence, and short self introduction. Before and after training, children’s vocal volume control abilities across language tasks were evaluated based on the percentage of time they could maintain their voice within a designated volume range on a soft-medium-loud scale. The results revealed that children generally exhibited vocal volume control problems more significantly in medium and loud conditions than that in soft condition, and in rote speech and introduction than that in reading aloud of sentence. The underlying reasons were proposed. Both visual analogy and real-time visual feedback were effective in improving control of loud volume. To train control in soft and medium volumes, real-time visual feedback may be more effective than visual analogy in general. Further research directions were proposed.