Using Earcons to Improve the Usability of a Graphics Package

This paper describes how non-speech sounds can be used to improve the usability of a graphics package. Sound was specifically used to aid problems with tool palettes and finding the current mouse coordinates when drawing. Tool palettes have usability problems because users need to see the information they present but they are often outside the area of visual focus. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of adding sound to tool palettes. Earcons were used to indicate the current tool and when tool changes occurred. Results showed a significant reduction in the number of tasks performed with the wrong tool. Therefore users knew what the current tool was and did not try to perform tasks with the wrong tool. All of this was not at the expense of making the interface any more annoying to use.

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