e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning

7.3. Evidence for Omitting Extraneous Audio

Can we point to any research that examines extraneous sounds in a multimedia presentation? Moreno and Mayer (2000a) began with a three-minute narrated animation explaining the process of lightning formation and a forty-five-second narrated animation explaining how hydraulic braking systems work. They created a music version of each by adding a musical loop to the background. The music was an unobtrusive instrumental piece, played at low volume that did not mask the narration nor make it less perceptually discernable. Students who received the narrated animation remembered more of the presented material and scored higher on solving transfer problems than students who received the same narrated animation ...