The effect of (un)pleasant sounds on the visual and overall pleasantness of products

A product is a nnulti-sensory object and eacli sensory property can contribute to the product experience. In this study we investigated the effect of sound (pleasant, unpleasant, original, and no sound) on the perceived pleasantness of products (i.e., visual pleasantness and overall pleasantness). Results indicate that ratings for visual and overall pleasantness are similar when no sounds are provided with the products (pictures). When participants are provided with sounds corresponding to the product, however, the overall pleasantness ratings decreased and visual pleasantness increased. Furthermore, while original and unpleasant sounds had a negative effect, pleasant sounds had a positive effect on visual and overall pleasantness ratings. We suggest that if efforts are put into improving the sound quality users will be more pleased and more willing to interact with products.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

Audio-visual interactions in product sound design

Consistent product experience requires congruity between product properties such as visual appearance and sound. Therefore, for designing appropriate product sounds by manipulating their spectral-temporal structure, product sounds should preferably not be considered in isolation but as an integral part of the main product concept. Because visual aspects of a product are considered to dominate the communication of the desired product concept, sound is usually expected to fit the visual character of a product. We argue that this can be accomplished successfully only on basis of a thorough understanding of the impact of audio-visual interactions on product sounds. Two experimental studies are reviewed to show audio-visual interactions on both perceptual and cognitive levels influencing the way people encode, recall, and attribute meaning to product sounds. Implications for sound design are discussed defying the natural tendency of product designers to analyze the “sound problem” in isolation from the other product properties.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

Basic semantics of product sounds

Product experience is a result of sensory and semantic experiences with product properties. In this paper, we focus on the semantic attributes of product sounds and explore the basic components for product sound related semantics using a semantic differential paradigmand factor analysis. With two experiments, we determined eight factors that underlie the semantic associations of product sounds (attention, roughness, smoothness, temporal constancy, (un)familiarity, unpleasantness, machinery, and power). Correlations of the resultsfrom both experiments indicate that perceptual factors (attention, roughness, smoothness, and temporal constancy) influence cognitivefactors (power, machinery, and (un)familiarity) and emotional factors (unpleasantness).This finding suggests a hierarchical structure in themeaningful associations of product sounds. Furthermore, we have shown that product sound related semantics is sound type dependentIndustrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

Towards the maturation of design: From smart to wise products

Recent years have shown the introduction of several types of smart products. These products gather data about user behaviour and try to determine an optimal response, in order to make the user’s life easier. However, some smart products also lead to user behaviour that is undesirable. Hence, we would like to introduce a new design paradigm aiming for wise products that make the user’s life better. These products allow the user to be in control of his own life, they are empathic, and they know multiple ways to evoke desirable behaviour. Besides awareness of the user’s current situation, wise products are connected to a knowledge source that helps them decide on the appropriate behaviour, and they possess a repertoire of possible actions that may be customized to momentary demands. The aim is for wise products to contribute to the user’s and society’s subjective well being. We discuss several examples of how people experience wisdom in products and in the way they interact. In addition, we describe implications for the design process.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

Alarm fatigue in the perception of medical soundscapes

Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

Product Sound Design: Intentional and Consequential Sounds

Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin