Earcons as a Method of Providing Navigational Cues in a Menu Hierarchy

Brewster, Stephen; Räty, Veli-Pekka; Kortekangas, Atte

doi:10.1007/978-1-4471-3588-3_12

Cited by 47 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…There has only been one previous study of the use of non-speech sounds for navigation information. This was performed by Brewster et al (1996aBrewster et al ( ,1996b. In this experiment we tried to represent a medium sized hierarchical structure of four levels and 25 nodes.…”

Section: Previous Attempts To Use Earcons To Present Hierarchy Informmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this work attempted a general solution for representing menu structures in sound and was not aimed particularly at TBI's. The hierarchy used by Brewster et al (1996a) and in the current experiment.…”

Section: Previous Attempts To Use Earcons To Present Hierarchy Informmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous research has shown that structured non-speech sounds can provide powerful navigation cues in menu hierarchies for non-visual interfaces (Brewster et al, 1996a andBrewster et al, 1996b). However, this work did not consider the particular problems of telephone-based interfaces (TBI's).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is suggested here that speech cannot provide the necessary feedback. As an alternative, nonspeech sounds can give the navigation cues (Brewster et al, 1996a). A hierarchical system of sounds could be used to represent a menu hierarchy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Navigating Telephone-Based Interfaces with Earcons

Brewster

1997

People and Computers XII

Self Cite

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Non-speech audio messages called earcons can provide powerful navigation cues in menu hierarchies. However, previous research on earcons has not addressed the particular problems of menus in telephone-based interfaces (TBI's) such as: Does the lower quality of sound in TBI's lower recall rates, can users remember earcons over a period of time and what effect does training type have on recall. An experiment was conducted and results showed that sound quality did lower the recall of earcons. However, redesign of the earcons overcame this problem with 73% recalled correctly. Participants could still recall earcons at this level after a week had passed. Training type also affected recall. With 'personal training' participants recalled 73% of the earcons but with purely textual training results were significantly lower. These results show that earcons can provide excellent navigation cues for telephonebased interfaces.

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Section: Previous Attempts To Use Earcons To Present Hierarchy Informmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Previous Attempts To Use Earcons To Present Hierarchy Informmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Navigating Telephone-Based Interfaces with Earcons

Brewster

1997

People and Computers XII

Self Cite

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“…Earcons and auditory icons have been used extensively in auditory humancomputer interfaces [19]. Earcons are used to communicate context such as hierarchies [20], depict visual categorisation [21], for menu navigation in graphical user interfaces [22], telephone interfaces [23] and mobile phones [24]. Their scalability allows for creation of intermittent sounds that are used to create cues [25].…”

Section: Problem Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acoustic Rendering of Data Tables Using Earcons and Prosody for Document Accessibility

Spiliotopoulos

Stavropoulou

2009

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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Abstract. Earlier works show that using a prosody specification that is derived from natural human spoken rendition, increases the naturalness and overall acceptance of speech synthesised complex visual structures by conveying to audio certain semantic information hidden in the visual structure. However, prosody alone, although exhibits significant improvement, cannot perform adequately in the cases of very large complex data tables browsed in a linear manner. This work reports on the use of earcons and spearcons combined with prosodically enriched aural rendition of simple and complex tables. Three spoken combinations earcons+prosody, spearcons+prosody, and prosody were evaluated in order to examine how the resulting acoustic output would improve the document-to-audio semantic correlation throughput from the visual modality. The results show that the use of non-speech sounds can further improve certain qualities, such as listening effort, a crucial parameter when vocalising any complex visual structure contained in a document.

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The design and formative evaluation of nonspeech auditory feedback for an information system

Absar

Guastavino

2015

Asso for Info Science & Tech

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This research describes a user-centered design method for creating nonspeech auditory feedback to enhance information interactions with a visual information system. It involves 2 studies. In the first, a user-centered sound design method is used, based on one originally applied for visually impaired users. Three panels of end users are employed to collaboratively and iteratively design the required nonspeech sounds. The method ensures that the sounds designed are not based on designers' personal or ad hoc choices and instead exploits the creativity of a user group as an application of participatory sound design. Based on the results of this study, recommendations are made for extending the sound design method to novel interfaces and sighted users. A second study involves a formative evaluation of the information system integrated with the designed auditory feedback. This evaluation confirms that the user-centered sound design method leads to the creation of auditory feedback which conveys meaningful information to users.

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Earcons as a Method of Providing Navigational Cues in a Menu Hierarchy

Cited by 47 publications

References 8 publications

Navigating Telephone-Based Interfaces with Earcons

Navigating Telephone-Based Interfaces with Earcons

Acoustic Rendering of Data Tables Using Earcons and Prosody for Document Accessibility

The design and formative evaluation of nonspeech auditory feedback for an information system

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