Development and evaluation of computer-aided music-learning system for the hearing impaired

Abstract

A computer-assisted music-learning system (CAMLS) has been developed to help the hearing impaired practice playing a musical melody. The music-learning performance is evaluated to test the usability of the system. This system can be a computer-supported learning tool for the hearing impaired to help them understand what pitch and tempo are, and then learn to play songs thereby increasing their interest in music classes and enhancing their learning performance. The results indicated that CAMLS could enhance hearing-impaired students' learning performance in a music course. A questionnaire survey also demonstrated that the computer-aided method did benefit hearing-impaired students in their music leaning. Actually, this system can also be applied to non-disabled students as a music-supportive tool to help their music learning. © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.