Index Codes for Tope Recorded Texts

Abstract

Five 6-character tonal index codes were compared for ease of learning using sighted college students as subjects. Each character of all codes was composed of one or two elements. The elements used in the first code were long and short tones, those in the second code were low- and high-pitched tones, and those used in the third code were tones ascending and descending in pitch. The dimensions used in the first two codes were combined to form the characters in the fourth code while dimensions from all the first three codes were combined to form the fifth code. Five comparable groups of 20 subjects were used. Each group was taught the names of the characters of one code using the paired-associates learning method. Two consecutive errorless trials was the criterion for learning. The code composed of long and short tones far surpassed all others in ease of learning.