Introduction & Purpose: The 20-meter shuttle run test (SRT) is widely used to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in youth. A major challenge in administering maximal exercise tests, such as the SRT, is ensuring that participants truly exert maximal effort (Poole & Jones, 2017). Failure to do so compromises internal validity, thereby limiting the usefulness of the assessment in both research and applied settings. Traditional auditory cues in the SRT, such as the standard beep, are unengaging and limited in their ability to encourage maximal effort investment. This study aimed to investigate whether complex, non-musical auditory stimuli could distract children from sensations of physical exertion, increase their willingness to exert maximal effort, and thereby influence performance in the SRT compared with the traditional beep sound. Methods: Fifty-eight school-aged children (11±1 years; 43% girls) completed the SRT on two separate occasions under randomized and balanced conditions. In one session, participants were guided by the traditional beep, while in the other, they were exposed to a complex, non-musical auditory stimulus. Primary outcomes included total distance covered, peak oxygen consumption (VO₂peak), and peak heart rate. Secondary outcomes were ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), attentional focus, affective valence, and enjoyment. Results: Under the complex auditory stimulus, children covered a greater distance (Δ=63.9 m, p=.004) and achieved higher VO₂peak (Δ=0.86 mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹, p=.006) and peak heart rate (Δ=6.40 bpm, p<.001) compared with the traditional beep condition. Moreover, perceived exertion was higher (Δ=0.86, p=.010), and attentional focus was more externally directed (Δ=1.73, p<.001), while affective valence and enjoyment did not differ significantly between conditions. Discussion: Replacing the conventional SRT beep with complex, non-musical auditory stimuli enhances children’s physical performance, effort investment, and dissociative attentional focus. These results align with previous research on the effects of verbal encouragement and the integration of music into the SRT (Lamoneda et al., 2021; Neto et al., 2015). However, complex, non-musical auditory stimuli appear more promising, as they ensure greater standardization compared to verbal encouragement and are less influenced by uncontrolled elements in music (e.g. lyrics, cultural associations, or personal familiarity). Conclusions: Non-musical auditory stimuli represent a practical and scalable strategy to improve the internal validity and reliability of the SRT in children. References Lamoneda, J., Huertas-Delgado, F. J., & Cadenas-Sanchez, C. (2021). Feasibility and concurrent validity of a cardiorespiratory fitness test based on the adaptation of the original 20 m shuttle run: The 20 m shuttle run with music. Journal of Sports Sciences, 39(1), 57–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2020.1804785 Neto, J. M. M. D., Silva, F. B., De Oliveira, A. L. B., Couto, N. L., Dantas, E. H. M., & Nascimento, M. A. D. L. (2015). Effects of verbal encouragement on performance of the multistage 20 m shuttle run. Acta Scientiarum - Health Sciences, 37(1), 25–30. https://doi.org/10.4025/actascihealthsci.v37i1.23262 Poole, D. C., & Jones, A. M. (2017). Measurement of the maximum oxygen uptake $VO_2max$: $VO_2peak$ is no longer acceptable. Journal of Applied Physiology, 122(4), 997–1002. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.01063.2016
The mouth is the most primal musical instrument and a central interface for wind performance, yet it remains largely overlooked in the design of contemporary electronic instruments. Given its exceptional sensory acuity and fine motor control, this neglect represents a loss of expressive potential and a hindrance to musicians with motor disabilities. This paper documents a participatory workshop on electronic mouth-only instruments, co-led by an expert with tetraplegia. Grounded in Tangible Musical Interface design, our approach emphasises sensorimotor interactions to reconnect digital sound creation with embodied experience. To support the playful exploration of this design space, we developed a modular toolset combining electronic input and feedback modalities for the mouth, along with methods for custom-built accessibility devices.
Abstract This paper describes and reflects on the imaginaries, knowledge, processes and methods of a new four-year research project called Performing AI (PAI): Governance, Agency and Action – An Interdisciplinary Inquiry. Funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation’s “collaborative and interdisciplinary research” program, the project assembles researchers from three Swiss universities (the Universities of Fribourg and Lausanne and the Zurich University of the Arts) and Japan (University of Tokyo’s General Systems Science department in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences). PAI’s goal is to investigate “AI” from epistemic, ontological, aesthetic and ethical angles, neither taking for granted its “uncontroversial ‘thingness’”, nor assuming received disciplinary frames to fit the purpose. Instead, we address how AI is “performed” – that is, enacted and produced – across different discursive and material sites and contexts. PAI asks multiple questions: How is AI enacted in governmental policy? What does artistic practice do to AI, and what does AI do to artistic practice? How is AI reconfigured in interdisciplinary scientific domains such as artificial life (as opposed to computer science)? How is AI taken up, or reconfigured in the public sphere, including schools, museums and festivals focused on the intersections of art, technology and society?
