Introducing Timbre to Design of Semi-Abstract Earcons - the Role of Timbre in Meaning Creation of Non-Speech Interface Sounds

Interface sounds have a relatively modest role in present day human computer interaction. The visual display is usually considered the most important part of the interface. Several studies of non-speech sounds have demonstrated encouraging results of how effective sounds could be. Despite these results, commercial interface design has not adapted sound usage. This maybe be partly due to the fact that some aspects of earlier studies have not been well thought-out, and the sounds designed with the help of earlier guidelines may not be functional. This content analytic literature study focuses on studying the earlier research of non-speech interface sounds, literature of the semiotics, audiovisual design, musicology and psychoacoustic in order to find out how interface sounds could be more usable and intuitive with the help of timbre evoked meanings.