From Signal to Substance and Back: Insights from Environmental Sound Research to Auditory Display Design

A persistent concern in the field of auditory display design has been how to effectively use environmental sounds, which are naturally occurring familiar non-speech, non-musical sounds. Environmental sounds represent physical events in the everyday world, and thus they have a semantic content that enables learning and recognition. However, unless used appropriately, their functions in auditory displays may cause problems. One of the main considerations in using environmental sounds as auditory icons is how to ensure the identifiability of the sound sources. The identifiability of an auditory icon depends on both the intrinsic acoustic properties of the sound it represents, and on the semantic fit of the sound to its context, i.e., whether the context is one in which the sound naturally occurs or would be unlikely to occur. Relatively recent research has yielded some insights into both of these factors. A second major consideration is how to use the source properties to represent event...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: CMMR
• Authors: Brian Gygi, Valeriy Shafiro
• Keywords: Auditory Displays, Auditory Icon, CMMR 2009, Environmental Sounds, Music