Singing in Virtual Reality with the Danish National children’s choir

This study investigates the relationship between auditory pulse clarity and sensorimotor synchronization performance, along with the influence of musical training. 27 participants walked in place to looped drum samples with varying degrees of pulse clarity, which were generated by adding artificial reverberation and measured through fluc- tuation spectrum peakiness. Experimental results showed that reducing auditory pulse clarity led to significantly higher means and standard de- viations in asynchrony across groups, affecting non-musicians more than musicians. Subjective ratings of required concentration also increased with decreasing pulse clarity. These findings point to the importance of clear and distinct pulses to timing performance in synchronization tasks such as music and dance.