Interactive sound awareness skills improvement system and method

An interactive sound awareness skill training system being executed on a computer system having a microprocessor, a speaker and an input device interconnected together, the system comprising:

• one or more sound awareness games for increasing the skill of the user in different sound awareness skills, each sound awareness game providing a stimulus to the user using the speaker, receiving a response to the stimulus from the user using the input device, each sound awareness game adaptively training the user in the particular sounds awareness skill associated with the particular sound awareness game;
• and
• wherein the adaptive training for each sound awareness game comprises means for increasing the difficulty of the sound awareness game when the user responds correctly to the sound awareness game and means for decreasing the difficulty of the sound awareness game when the user incorrectly responds to the sound awareness game so that the sound awareness game ensures that the user receives the proper level of training in a particular sound awareness skill;
• and
• wherein the difficulty means further comprises one or more of means for changing the environment surrounding the stimulus to change the difficulty in the user correctly responding to the stimulus and means for changing the memory load placed on the short term phonological memory of the user associated with the stimulus to change the difficulty in the user correctly responding to the stimulus.

An interactive sound awareness skill training system, comprising:

• means for generating at least one sound stimulus to which a user of the system responds in order to improve the skill of the user at sound awareness skills;
• means for generating a predetermined varying amount of background noise that changes the difficulty with which the user identifies the sound stimulus;
• and
• means for receiving a response from the user to the sound stimulus despite the background noise.

An interactive sound awareness skill training system, comprising:

• means for generating a first sound stimulus and a second sound stimulus to which a user of the system responds in order to improve the user's skill at distinguishing the first sound stimulus and the second sound stimulus;
• means for varying the frequency components of at least one sound stimulus to change the difficulty in distinguishing the first and second sound stimulus;
• and
• means for receiving a response from the user to the first and second sound stimulus to distinguish the first and second sound stimulus.

An interactive sound awareness skill training method comprising:

• training the skill of the user on different sounds awareness skill using one or more sound awareness games, each sound awareness game providing a stimulus to the user using a speaker, receiving a response to the stimulus from the user using an input device, each sound awareness game adaptively training the user in the particular sounds awareness skill associated with the particular sound awareness game;
• and
• wherein the adaptive training for each sound awareness game comprises increasing the difficulty of the sound awareness game when the user responds correctly to the sound awareness game and decreasing the difficulty of the sound awareness game when the user incorrectly responds to the sound awareness game so that the sound awareness game ensures that the user receives the proper level of training in a particular sound awareness skill;
• and
• wherein the difficulty means further comprises means for changing the environment surrounding the stimulus to change the difficulty in the user correctly responding to the stimulus or means for changing the memory load placed on the short term phonological memory of the user associated with the stimulus to change the difficulty in the user correctly responding to the stimulus.

An interactive sound awareness skill training system being executed on a computer system having a microprocessor, a speaker and an input device interconnected together, the system comprising:

• one or more sound awareness games for increasing the skill of the user in different sound awareness skills, each sound awareness game providing a stimulus to the user using the speaker, receiving a response to the stimulus from the user using the input device, each sound awareness game adaptively training the user in the particular sounds awareness skill associated with the particular sound awareness game;
• wherein the adaptive training for each sound awareness game comprises means for increasing the difficulty of the sound awareness game when the user responds correctly to the sound awareness game and means for decreasing the difficulty of the sound awareness game when the user incorrectly responds to the sound awareness game so that the sound awareness game ensures that the user receives the proper level of training in a particular sound awareness skill;
• and
• wherein the difficulty means further comprises means for changing the environment surrounding the stimulus to change the difficulty in the user correctly responding to the stimulus.

An interactive sound awareness skill training system being executed on a computer system having a microprocessor, a speaker and an input device interconnected together, the system comprising:

• one or more sound awareness games for increasing the skill of the user in different sound awareness skills, each sound awareness game providing a stimulus to the user using the speaker, receiving a response to the stimulus from the user using the input device, each sound awareness game adaptively training the user in the particular sounds awareness skill associated with the particular sound awareness game;
• and
• wherein the adaptive training for each sound awareness game comprises means for increasing the difficulty of the sound awareness game when the user responds correctly to the sound awareness game and means for decreasing the difficulty of the sound awareness game when the user incorrectly responds to the sound awareness game so that the sound awareness game ensures that the user receives the proper level of training in a particular sound awareness skill;
• and
• wherein the difficulty means further comprises means for changing the memory load placed on the short term phonological memory of the user associated with the stimulus to change the difficulty in the user correctly responding to the stimulus.