Abstract
"Dekirukana" is an educational television program broadcasted in Japan by NHK for more than 21 years. In this program, there are two characters. One character is Noppo-san, the main male character, who never speaks. The other is Gonta-kun, a kind of animal who occasionally howls. On the other hand, there are two voices: Gonta-kun's and a female narrator's voice. As the main character doesn't speak, the children watching this program are often confused as to whose voice belongs to which character. 190 students were requested to recall how they matched the voices with the characters. We found that 11.1% of the students had taken Noppo-san as a female and 40.7% of them were confused by the relation of voices to characters. Children often find it difficult to associate voices to characters in TV programs, especially when some voices other than those of the characters, such as a narrator's play an important role in the program. We feel, thus, that children should be supported in this area. The development of exercises to educate children in TV programs voice/character association is considered necessary.
