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From: brsmith@cs.umn.edu (Brian R. Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Audio feedback from GUI's
Keywords: sound windows widgets
Message-ID: <1991Jun12.215523.7379@cs.umn.edu>
Date: 12 Jun 91 21:55:23 GMT
References: <1991Jun12.171211.2716@cs.umn.edu> <31228@hydra.gatech.EDU> <1991Jun12.202741.16629@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept.
Lines: 42

In <1991Jun12.202741.16629@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> kline@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Charley Kline) writes:

>For what it's worth, I installed "Findersounds" which is another
>thing that behaves as described, with all sorts of "appropriate"
>noises on window open, window close, drag, resize, scroll, select,
>and so on.

>It was the most annoying thing I've ever seen for the Mac. I dragged
>it out of the System Folder after about ten minutes.

That's exactly what I'm hoping to avoid.

Maybe I should rephrase the question.  Instead of "Wouldn't it be NEAT
if interface operations made sounds", it should be "What interface
operations would BENEFIT from audio feedback?"

This is a wide open question.  Use your imagination (mine's about
tapped).  What other common operations are there and what kind of
sound would suggest that operation to you?

Like...
Delete	("zap"?)
Paste	("splat"?)
Sort	("riffle-riffle" - paper shuffling, only for as long as
	sorting takes.  Obviously, there are a LOT of possibilities
	for cpu-bound tasks, since the user is probably bored to death
	waiting anyway...)

The hardest part here is figuring out WHERE to use WHAT sounds
unintrusively.

The best one I've thought of so far is the variable pitch "click" on
scrolling.  It gives you a lot of information - whether you're going
up or down (from hearing two consecutive clicks and hearing the pitch
difference), how fast (useful for rate-scrolled windows), and how
close you are to each end (high or low pitch).  Maybe even a quick
"thud" noise whe you reach the end.

It has the potential to make the interface feel more real.
--
Brian
brsmith@cs.umn.edu