Evaluation of earcons for portable digital electronic products considering perceptual user characteristics

Earcons, nonverbal sound feedback, have been used for electronic products to give appropriate feedback information for the selected user functions. This study evaluated earcon usability of a portable digital electronic product based on cognition time, error rate, and subjective feelings using 20 male and female subjects. For subjective evaluation, the study assessed various earcons by subjective impression of sounds using 7‐point rating scales. For earcon usability performance, major user functions were used for the product with currently available earcons and for the product with the new earcons (suggested by this study), which considered perceptual characteristics, such as loudness and melody. Statistical results from the study indicated that the new earcons significantly reduced user error rates and therefore generally improved user performance on major functions, such as “PLAY,” “OFF,” “STOP,” “FF” (fast forward), and “REW” (rewind). Subjective data results also showed that users were more satisfied with the new, melody‐based sound feedback. Practical guidelines for sound feedback design of a small digital product are suggested. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

听觉显示研究与应用

听觉显示是应用声音表示信息,通过听觉来显示和传递信息.本文首先介绍了听觉显示的研究背景,回顾了听觉显示的研究历史和国内外的研究现状,指出了听觉显示方面主要的研究领域;其次通过对听觉显示用户界面研究及可听化研究的分析,对当前听觉显示研究的发展进行了总结;最后对听觉显示及其应用研究前景提出了一些展望,旨在为今后的研究和应用提供一点思路.