The design of sonically-enhanced widgets

This paper describes the design of user-interface widgets that include non-speech sound. Previous research has shown that the addition of sound can improve the usability of human–computer interfaces. However, there is little research to show where the best places are to add sound to improve usability. The approach described here is to integrate sound into widgets, the basic components of the human–computer interface. An overall structure for the integration of sound is presented. There are many problems with current graphical widgets and many of these are difficult to correct by using more graphics. This paper presents many of the standard graphical widgets and describes how sound can be added. It describes in detail usability problems with the widgets and then the non-speech sounds to overcome them. The non-speech sounds used are earcons. These sonically-enhanced widgets allow designers who are not sound experts to create interfaces that effectively improve usability and have coherent and consistent sounds.

[1]  T Z Strybel,et al.  Aurally Aided Visual Search in the Central Visual Field: Effects of Visual Load and Visual Enhancement of the Target , 1991, Human factors.

[2]  Stephen Brewster,et al.  Using non-speech sound to overcome information overload , 1997 .

[3]  William W. Gaver,et al.  Effective sounds in complex systems: the ARKOLA simulation , 1991, CHI.

[4]  Roger B. Dannenberg,et al.  Garnet: comprehensive support for graphical, highly interactive user interfaces , 1990, Computer.

[5]  M. Harrison,et al.  On defining requirements for interaction , 1993, [1993] Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering.

[6]  Elizabeth Jane Hellier.  An investigation into the perceived urgency of auditory warnings. , 1991 .

[7]  John K. Ousterhout,et al.  Tcl and the Tk Toolkit , 1994 .

[8]  Michel Israel.  Design Automation Technical Committee , 1995 .

[9]  Tom Carey,et al.  Auralization of document structure , 1994 .

[10]  Meera Blattner,et al.  Earcons and Icons: Their Structure and Common Design Principles , 1989, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[11]  R. R. Patterson,et al.  Guidelines for auditory warning systems on civil aircraft , 1982 .

[12]  Arthur I. Karshmer,et al.  An experimental sound-based hierarchical menu navigation system for visually handicapped use of graphical user interfaces , 1994, Assets '94.

[13]  E. Owens,et al.  An Introduction to the Psychology of Hearing , 1997 .

[14]  Elizabeth D. Mynatt,et al.  The design and evaluation of an auditory-enhanced scrollbar , 1994, CHI '94.

[15]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  User Centered System Design , 1986 .

[16]  James Reason,et al.  Human Error , 1990 .

[17]  Stephen A. Brewster,et al.  Making menus musical , 1997, INTERACT.

[18]  Barry Arons,et al.  The future of speech and audio in the interface: a CHI '94 workshop , 1994, SGCH.

[19]  Birgitta Berglund,et al.  Relationship between loudness and annoyance for ten community sounds , 1990 .

[20]  R. M. Greenberg,et al.  Guidelines for the syntactic design of audio cues in computer interfaces , 1985 .

[21]  Roger B. Dannenberg,et al.  Garnet: comprehensive support for graphical, highly interactive user interfaces , 1995 .

[22]  W. Buxton.  Human-Computer Interaction , 1988, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[23]  William W. Gaver.  The SonicFinder: An Interface That Uses Auditory Icons , 1989, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[24]  Ephraim P. Glinert,et al.  An experiment into the use of auditory cues to reduce visual workload , 1989, CHI '89.

[25]  Rachel Reichman.  Communication Paradigms for a Window System , 1986 .

[26]  Stephen A. Brewster,et al.  Earcons as a Method of Providing Navigational Cues in a Menu Hierarchy , 1996, BCS HCI.

[27]  Curtis Roads,et al.  The Computer Music Tutorial , 1996 .

[28]  Stephen Brewster,et al.  Providing a Structured Method for Integrating Non-Speech Audio into Human-Computer Interfaces , 1994 .

[29]  Stephen A. Brewster,et al.  An evaluation of earcons for use in auditory human-computer interfaces , 1993, INTERCHI.

[30]  Ian Pitt,et al.  Pointing in an auditory interface for blind users , 1995, 1995 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics. Intelligent Systems for the 21st Century.

[31]  W. Barfield,et al.  The use of icons, earcons, and commands in the design of an online hierarchical menu , 1991 .

[32]  Alan J. Dix,et al.  The sonic enhancement of graphical buttons , 1995, INTERACT.

[33]  Wai On Lee.  The effects of skill development and feedback on action slips , 1993 .

[34]  Elizabeth D. Mynatt.  Auditory Presentation of Graphical User Interfaces , 1992 .

[35]  Stéphane Conversy,et al.  Auditory illusions for audio feedback , 1996, CHI Conference Companion.

[36]  Stephen Brewster,et al.  A Detailed Investigation into the Effectiveness of Earcons , 1997 .

[37]  Brad A. Myers,et al.  State of the Art in User Interface Software Tools , 1992 .

[38]  Alan Dix,et al.  Causing Trouble with Buttons , 1994 .

[39]  Constantine Stephanidis,et al.  Developing dual user interfaces for integrating blind and sighted users: the HOMER UIMS , 1995, CHI '95.