Albers & Bergman (1995)
Explore the use of audio in browser technology to improve
usability:
"By using audio rather than visual enhancements,
our aim was to provide more information while shifting additional
cognitive load to a different modality."
Rationale for using sound:
Increase user's sense of engagement with system
Enhance monitoring of (long) background processes
Reinforce visual interaction
Choice of sounds:
Everyday sounds mapped to analogous interface events
'Unrealistic' or abstracted sounds selected on subjective
measure of affordance
(Example: low, heavy piano note to depict large files)
All sounds played just above background noise levels to
inform, but not distract