Auditory Temporal Hints in AR Piano Tutoring

Learning to play a musical instrument can be challenging for beginners, requiring ample practice and coordination. Previous studies have investigated the use of screens, projectors, and Augmented Reality (AR) headsets to provide visual feedback to piano students and several authors showed that such tools can improve learning. However, little work has been done investigating auditory aids and we are not aware of any analysis of their effect in combination with AR piano tutoring tools. In this research we use a virtual metronome to convey rhythm and we investigate its effect when combined with an AR piano roll. We performed a user study measuring users’ piano performance, cognitive load, and preferences when using an AR piano tutoring tool with and without a virtual metronome. Our results found no significant differences for the entire cohort and users with no piano experience. However, we found evidence that the virtual metronome helps to decrease rhythm errors and cognitive load for users with at least some piano experience. We suggest that the virtual metronome is most useful when used in a staged approach after introducing visual aids.