Earcons, Auditory Icons and spearcons

Icons

What do we know about icon design? Three types of Icons Representational: simple pictures of familiar objects or operations Abstract: geometric marks and shapes used to depict a specific object or operations Semi-Abstract: a combination of representational pictures and abstract marks and shapes used to depict a specific object or operation Have students identify the correct icon based on the definition. Have students identify a representational, abstract and semi-abstract icon on their mobile interface Activity: Identify a representational, abstract and semi-Abstract icon on your mobile interface

Icons vs. Earcons/Auditory icons Auditory Icons/Earcons: Non-verbal Audio message used in the user interface to provide information and feedback about some object, operation or interaction (Blattner et al. p. 13) Icons: Graphical symbols that visually represent information on a computer display (interface). (Blattner et al. p. 12) Icons are selectable and informational -- Earcons are informational only Icons are permanent – Earcons are transient Icons can be presented simultaneously – Earcons are difficult to present simultaneously. Source: For the love of Icons Source: Nicobido Sound Effects Discussion: What advantages do icons have over earcons/auditory icons and vice versa?

Earcons and Auditory Icons

Auditory Icons An Auditory Icon makes use of natural everyday sounds in order to represent objects and actions on the interface. For example, as a file is dragged across the screen the noise of paper scraping can be heard. Auditory Icons can represent objects, operations and interactions Objects: Files Menus Prompts Operations Editing Compiling Executing Interactions (happen between objects and operations) Editing a file

Earcons An Earcon is a structured audio message based on musical sounds which conveys to the user information about the tasks being carried out. For example, while scrolling up and down a page the user gains information on their place in the document. At the top of the document the pitch of the note given is high; as the user scrolls down the pitch decreases. They are not intuitive and therefore have to be learned by the user In interfaces they have been shown to steer the emotional reaction of the user in support of a certain response (“you’ve got mail” sound prompting you to check your mail)

Representational Earcons Gaver (1986) created 3 mappings between data and their auditory representations: Symbolic mappings: rely on social convention for meaning (e.g. applause for approval) Nomic mappings: are concrete representations (e.g. the sound of a closing metal cabinet for closing a file) Metaphorical mappings: designed to have similarities (e.g. a sound with a falling pitch denotes a falling object)

Activity Provide other examples of either symbolic, nomic or metaphorical mappings In pairs, take out a cell phone and locate the list of notification sounds and play each one. Which of these sounds might be considered Symbolic, Nomic or Metaphorical. Can you remember which notifications they are mapped to?

Designers of earcons consider the following qualities Rhythm: Listeners respond more readily to rhythm more than any other musical parameter Pitch (perceived as highness and lowness) Timbre (the color of a sound, like bright, brassy etc.) Register (relative high/low set of pitches of a sound) Dynamics (relative loudness or softness of a sound) Length of an earcon (should be sufficient to convey the message effectively, and no longer) (Blattner et al. pp 23-28)

Spearcons

Earcons vs. Spearcons Spearcons: a brief non-speech sound that is created by speeding up the Text to Speech phase in particular ways, even to the point where the spearcon is no longer recognizable as a particular word. (Walker 2013) Tested and used in auditory menu systems Earcons: Non-verbal Audio message used in the user interface to provide information and feedback about some object, operation or interaction (Blattner et al. p. 13) Reminder of the two readings for Friday: Read about the Georgia Tech Sonification Lab and Advanced Auditory Menus; also “Spearcons” (Walker, Nance, Lindsay). Discussion: What advantages do Earcons/Auditory Icons have over Spearcons and vice versa?

Works Cited Blattner, Sumikawa and Greenberg (1989). Earcons and icons: Their Structure and Common Design Principles. HCI Volume 4 pp 11-44 Gaver (1986). Auditory Icons: Using Sound in Computer Interfaces. HCI Volume 2 pp 167-177 Walker et al. (2013) Spearcons (speech-based earcons) improve navigation performance in advanced auditory menus. Human Factors 1 pp 157-182