Sound used to convey information, meaning, aesthetic and emotional qualities in interactive contexts
Closed-loop interactions
Multi-modality
Examples
Real time sonification of rowing boat training to improve athletes' performance
"Therefore, the data of the acceleration-time trace were attributed to specific tones on the musical tone scale and related to tone pitch. Every defined decimal midi-number equates to a specific semitone. Data were multiplied by the factor k (spread of the acoustic sound) and displaced with an absolute term h on the midi-scale (pitch of sound). The middle C on the western musical tone scale represented the point of zero acceleration, so that positive acceleration varies above this pitch and negative below: as the acceleration increased the pitch of the tone increased, and as the acceleration decreased the pitch decreased as well."
Spinotron
participants were required to pump the interface and to reach and maintain a precise and constant pace
"By using sonic feedback which modeled the dynamic behavior of a spinning top the users’ performance was improved significantly compared to more arbitrary feedback"
"Only the participants who were provided with the auditory feedback were able to improve their performance across trials"
Product sound design
As gestures become more prevalent in product interaction (rather than discrete events like the mouse) sonic feedback can become more useful and interesting
Interactive Art and Music
"Sound making is considered to be a meaningful aesthetic experience not only for musicians but also for users who do not posses expert musical skills"
Sonification
Design
"There are basic bindings between the interaction and sonic response which are fully determined by the laws of physics: the more energy is put into a system, the louder is typically the sound signal, the higher the tension, the higher the pitch, etc.."
culture, emotion and experience, rather than solely function and efficiency, are included in the interaction between humans and machines