Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!spool.mu.edu!uunet!ns-mx!pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu From: jones@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu (Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879) Newsgroups: comp.human-factors Subject: Re: Audio feedback from GUI's Message-ID: <6468@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> Date: 13 Jun 91 16:32:20 GMT Article-I.D.: ns-mx.6468 References: Sender: news@ns-mx.uiowa.edu Lines: 20 Audio feedback can be nice, but the system should always try to work and work well with no audio feedback. I work in an office with real walls separating me from my neighbors, but I can still hear the beeps and other audio effects from their computers, and it is usually annoying. When I'm able to, I get into termcap files and use the visible bell option to make the beeps from most software turn into screen flashes of one kind or another. An occasional beep is OK, and I doubt I'd object to a quiet synthesized paper riffling noise, but I do object to listening to a Mac user at work when he's programmed his machine to wretch as it ejects a diskette, howl with laughter when he makes an error, and so on. This may be cute, but it's disruptive! Even keyclick noises can be disruptive, and I've never sympathized with some manufacturers whose machines have naturally silent keyboards with bad tactile feedback so they decided that a sharp beep would substitute for the lack of a click or good feel on the keyboard. Doug Jones jones@cs.uiowa.edu