Oh what a tangled web we weave: metaphor and mapping in graphical interfaces
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Communicating graphical information to blind users using music: the role of context
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Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
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Sonic interventions: understanding and extending the domestic soundscape
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Auditory display design-An investigation of a design pattern approach
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The appropriate use of non-speech sounds has the potential toadd a great deal to the functionality of computer interfaces. Soundis a largely unexploited medium of output, even though it plays anintegral role in our everyday encounters with the world, one thatis complementary to vision. I argue that sound should be used incomputers as it is in the world, where it conveys information aboutthe nature of sound-producing events. Such a strategy leads toauditory icons, which are everyday sounds meant to conveyinformation about computer events by analogy with everyday events.Auditory icons are an intuitively accessible way to use sound toprovide multidimensional, organized information to users.These ideas are instantiated in the SonicFinder, which is anauditory interface I developed at Apple Computer. In thisinterface, information is conveyed using auditory icons as well asstandard graphical feedback. I discuss how events are mapped toauditory icons in the SonicFinder and illustrate how sound is usedby describing a typical interaction with this interface.Two majorgains are associated with using sound in this interface: anincrease in direct engagement with the model world of the computerand an added flexibility for users in getting information aboutthat world. These advantages seem to be due to the iconic nature ofthe mappings used between sound and the information it is toconvey. I discuss sound effects and source metaphors as methods ofextending auditory icons beyond the limitations implied by literalmappings and speculate on future directions for suchinterfaces.