Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-picayune.mit.edu!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!sics.se!ifi.uio.no!nuug!ugle.unit.no!ugle.unit.no!haltraet From: haltraet@gondle.idt.unit.no (Hallvard Traetteberg) Newsgroups: comp.human-factors Subject: Re: Audio feedback from GUI's Message-ID: Date: 13 Jun 91 10:10:41 GMT References: <1991Jun12.171211.2716@cs.umn.edu> <31228@hydra.gatech.EDU> <1991Jun12.202741.16629@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <1991Jun12.215523.7379@cs.umn.edu> Sender: news@ugle.unit.no Organization: /home/loke/b/haltraet/.organization Lines: 26 In-Reply-To: brsmith@cs.umn.edu's message of 12 Jun 91 21:55:23 GMT I've never tried making an interface with sound, but I've often wanted one. But it seems to me I want it for a different reasons than you do. I would like a sound to tell me that the machine is traching, that the network is jammed and when important mail comes by. These sounds work as signals and contains little information besides that. I believe that: 1.Sound is useful for attracting attention. 2.Sound (as opposed to speach) is *not* useful for communicating information. I don't need to hear a "zap" when deleting a file since I get enough visual feedback already. When working at the machine my attention is already there to catch changes in the display (and thus the working environment). When waiting for something to happen I would like to look at my desk instead. With my attention some other place a sound that tells me the sorting is done is appropriate. Likewise, when the humming from a large NFS transfer vanishes I know I can go back to work on the machine. A friend of mine has a PC with a heat regulated fan, which makes a different sound when the machine accesses the network. He likes it because it tells him why the PC slows down.) Remember also that several people often share an office and that alerting sounds are heard by all of them. A faint humming mix in with other white noise and is less disturbing. -- - hal