A FRAMEWORK FOR RESEARCHING SOUND'S USE IN MULTIMEDIA INSTRUCTION TO ENHANCE LEARNING by

Recent technological advances now make possible the full integration of sound in instructional software. Sounds may gain and focus learner attention, reduce distracting stimuli, and make learning more engaging. In addition, they may help learners condense, elaborate upon, and organize details, highlighting interconnections among new pieces of information and making connect3.ons to pre-existing knowledge. Thus, sound may 1hold great promise for moderating acquisition, processing, and retrieval "noise " in instructional software. Unfortunately, interface and instructional design guides almost completely ' ignore sound, and research suggests many promising instructional uses remain largely unexplored. This paper: (1) describes current practice; (2) explores information-processing and communication theoretical foundations for sound's systematic use; and (3) proposes a framework for sound's use in instructional software. (Contains 1 figure and 228 references.) (Author/SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document