BODYSOUND tests with FightTheStroke children

Another experimental moment of the pilot project Bodysound, developed by Polifactory for the European research project SISCODE. After the development of the basic functions of the BODYSOUND software, the first test sessions with FightTheStroke children and families began.

The goal of this activity was to test:

• the level of children’s enjoyment of the overall experience
• the effectiveness  of the graphical interface and the recognition of the avatar by children of different age groups
• the effectiveness of the sound-player association
• the maximum number of players

In order to obtain the feedbacks, we have chosen to let the children approach the game without preliminary explanations and without specific movement exercises, to observe what the reactions to the instrument and the free play interactions could be.

For these two sessions (one individual and one group) we programmed two very different sound experiences:

• the first one allowed to “play” a song, already known by children, associating to each person entering the playing field a series of tracks and voices
• the second one associated a series of musical instruments to each player in order to create a melody composed ad hoc for the BODYSOUND system

The sessions were attended by three FightTheStroke children and their families.
After collecting feedbacks from children and families, we decided to move from a two-dimensional avatar display to a three-dimensional one to facilitate spatial perception even in very young children.

We verified that the melodies made ad hoc could be less dispersive and more effective, especially if associated with individual movements.