Abstract One of the main factors for improving movement execution and motor performance in competitive sports is the availability of useful feedback. While coaches can communicate verbally with athletes in most sports, swimming is different. Because the swimmer is underwater most of the time, any type of real-time feedback is difficult. Since the presentation of acoustic information through sonification has proven beneficial to certain motor skills, this paper describes initial considerations for an application of interactive sonification as real-time audio feedback to provide useful information to improve motor execution in swimming. Special attention is given to the underwater dolphin-kick (UDK), which is performed by athletes after every start and every turn and is one of the critical factors for overall performance in world-class swimming. It was examined whether the characteristics of the UDK are represented in the sound in order to create congruency between sound, action and reaction. Two different sonification models were designed using data from 11 national athletes (six juniors, aged 17.0 ± 1.5 years and five seniors aged 23.6 ± 1.3 years). The sonified data were presented to sport scientists and coaches and tested in in a pilot study with three club-level swimmers (17.0 ± 0.8 years) in swimming training. The results indicate that the athletes became aware of relevant aspects of the movement with both sonification models, to which they had no access so far. In detail, the sonification provided information on forward propulsion, movement rhythm and kick frequency – all factors contributing to overall motor performance. Individual statements showed that the athletes noticed deceleration phases in the forward propulsion and the time duration in the movement execution and tried to adapt their movements accordingly. The approaches presented here could therefore serve as a useful training tool for swimmers to improve their UDK.

中文翻译：

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水下海豚踢腿的声音：开发游泳中的实时音频反馈

摘要 在竞技运动中提高运动执行和运动表现的主要因素之一是有用反馈的可用性。虽然教练可以在大多数运动中与运动员进行口头交流，但游泳则不同。由于游泳者大部分时间都在水下，因此任何类型的实时反馈都很困难。由于通过声波呈现声学信息已被证明对某些运动技能有益，本文描述了交互式声波作为实时音频反馈应用的初步考虑，以提供有用的信息来改善游泳运动的执行。水下海豚式踢腿（UDK）尤其受到运动员的关注，这是运动员在每一次出发和每一次转身后都会进行的，是世界级游泳比赛整体表现的关键因素之一。为了在声音、动作和反应之间建立一致性，检查了 UDK 的特征是否在声音中表现出来。使用来自 11 名国家运动员（6 名青少年，年龄 17.0 ± 1.5 岁和 5 名老年人，年龄 23.6 ± 1.3 岁）的数据设计了两种不同的超声模型。将声波化数据提交给运动科学家和教练员，并在一项试点研究中对三名俱乐部级游泳运动员（17.0 ± 0.8 岁）进行游泳训练进行测试。结果表明，运动员通过两种声波模型意识到了运动的相关方面，而他们目前还无法接触到这些方面。详细地说，声波提供了有关向前推进、运动节奏和踢腿频率的信息——所有因素都有助于整体运动表现。个人陈述表明，运动员注意到向前推进的减速阶段和动作执行的持续时间，并试图相应地调整他们的动作。因此，此处介绍的方法可以作为游泳者提高其 UDK 的有用训练工具。