Auditory modeling: New frontiers to improve sport performances.

Modeling strategies in sports consist in demonstrating a correct performance execution, in order to provide athletes with information that can be somehow represented and reproduced. Many studies demonstrated the efficacy of visual models, that is, the presentation of videos of well-executed actions. However, only a few studies focused on auditory modeling. We demonstrated that the auditory system is more sensitive than the visual system in processing rhythms associated with motor performances, and this is consistent with the idea that the auditory channel is the most appropriate means to provide athletes with temporal information. The paradigm we developed consists in recording several trials of the natural sounds produced by the athlete body movement and then using the sound associated to the best individual trial as the model to provide athletes with the correct rhythm of their action. This procedure has been applied to many disciplines in which rhythm plays an important role, such as swimming, running, long jump, hammer throw, cycling, tennis, soccer, golf, and other activities, such as basic motor exercises and dance. We have run many experiments, looking for a compromise between the necessary strict control of variables on the one hand, and the ecological application of our findings on the other hand. After ten years of research, we can affirm that the effects of auditory models on motor performances are quite consolidate, since it is demonstrated that our method is flexible enough to be applied in almost every rhythmical sport situation.