Fine Tuning

In the brain speed exercise Fine Tuning, you’ll be asked to choose between two syllables that sound alike, such as /bo/ (“bow”) and /do/ (“dough”). Sounds easy, right? Well, it might not be as easy as you think.

These types of syllables are called “confusable pairs.” They contain sounds that are especially hard for our brains to differentiate, especially in harder listening situations, like in a noisy, crowded room, or when speaking to someone who mumbles, or if someone’s talking very quickly.

For accurate hearing, every millisecond counts. When the brain slows even by a fraction, it can muddy sounds together. If a sound isn’t recorded clearly in the first place, it’s harder to remember it clearly later. Although our brains are pretty good at figuring out the context in the moment, your memory of the conversation in the future will likely be poorer.

The goal of Fine Tuning is to give your neurons exercise turning on and off at appropriate times, so they can clearly perceive, transmit, and represent each consonant sound when they are used in combination with a vowel sound.

Your task in Fine Tuning is to listen to a very short audio clip and determine what syllable was spoken.

Here’s how the exercise works:

1. Two blank buttons will appear on screen, and an audio clip will play a short sound. Listen closely and remember what you hear.
   
2. Two syllables will appear on screen within the buttons. Select the syllable that you heard in the previous step.
   

Tip: If you’re training from a computer, you can use the left arrow key on your keyboard to select the syllable button on the left, or the right arrow key on your keyboard to select the syllable button on the right.

If an incorrect answer is given you’ll hear a “bonk” sound, and spoken syllables may become longer. If a correct answer is given you’ll hear a “boop” sound and spoken syllables may become shorter. In both cases, the level then continues, repeating from Step 1 above.

You can review the exercise video tutorial here.

Fine Tuning from BrainHQ from Posit Science on Vimeo.

As you progress through Fine Tuning, it becomes more challenging in these ways:

• The pairs of syllables change
• The voice varies: sometimes it will be a deeper voice, sometimes it will be a higher pitched voice.