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

Beyond Beeps: Designing Ambient Sound as a Take-Over Request in Automated Vehicles

The design of take-over requests in automated vehicles traditionally focuses on safety and reaction time. We are interested in how take-over requests can be designed from a broader user experience perspective while ensuring safety. This paper proposes designs for ambient sound (i.e., soundscape) and driving noise to inform the driver of transition situations. Drivers must take-over control within the time budget, the time from the take-over request to the automation system limit. The time required for a safe transition depends on the complexity of the driving environment. In a scheduled take-over, which is not an emergency, there is an opportunity for an interaction that gradually introduces the driver into the transition process. Ambient sound is expected to lead the driver back to the loop with comfort, creating a novel transition experience as well as safety.Human Information Communication DesignIntelligent Vehicle

Effects of User Interfaces on Take-Over Performance: A Review of the Empirical Evidence

In automated driving, the user interface plays an essential role in guiding transitions between automated and manual driving. This literature review identified 25 studies that explicitly studied the effectiveness of user interfaces in automated driving. Our main selection criterion was how the user interface (UI) affected take-over performance in higher automation levels allowing drivers to take their eyes off the road (SAE3 and SAE4). We categorized user interface (UI) factors from an automated vehicle-related information perspective. Short take-over times are consistently associated with take-over requests (TORs) initiated by the auditory modality with high urgency levels. On the other hand, take-over requests directly displayed on non-driving-related task devices and augmented reality do not affect take-over time. Additional explanations of take-over situation, surrounding and vehicle information while driving, and take-over guiding information were found to improve situational awareness. Hence, we conclude that advanced user interfaces can enhance the safety and acceptance of automated driving. Most studies showed positive effects of advanced UI, but a number of studies showed no significant benefits, and a few studies showed negative effects of advanced UI, which may be associated with information overload. The occurrence of positive and negative results of similar UI concepts in different studies highlights the need for systematic UI testing across driving conditions and driver characteristics. Our findings propose future UI studies of automated vehicle focusing on trust calibration and enhancing situation awareness in various scenarios.Human Information Communication DesignIntelligent Vehicle

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

How manoeuvre information via auditory (spatial and beep) and visual UI can enhance trust and acceptance in automated driving

In conditionally automated driving (SAE level 3), drivers may take their eyes off the road but will still need to be ready to take control and will, therefore, benefit from information on automation. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of automation manoeuvre information provided through spatial sound, traditional notification sound (beep), and a visual interface. Spatial sounds were designed differentiating four distinct driving manoeuvres: overtaking a leading car, slowing down, turning right, and passing a roundabout. The notification sound consisted of one beep being identical for all manoeuvres. The visual interface showed the automation mode with an image and manoeuvre information with text and images. The impact of these interfaces on trust, workload, acceptance, situation awareness, and sense of control was evaluated with questionnaires and visual attention was evaluated with eye tracking while participants engaged in a visual-motor secondary task in a driving simulator. The results indicate that, with all interfaces tested, manoeuvre information enhances trust, acceptance, situation awareness, and sense of control, without significantly affecting the overall workload. These benefits were more profound, adding auditory information and differed marginally between the traditional notification and the spatial sound, as the effectiveness of the different auditory interface types varied depending on the specific manoeuvre. Findings highlight the importance of designing user interfaces for automation manoeuvre information using auditory cues to improve the user experience in automated driving.Human Information Communication DesignIntelligent Vehicle

Product sound design in education

Product Sound Design is an elective course of the Master of Industrial Design Engineering at the Delft University of Technology. The educational goal of the course is to make students consciously aware of constructive parts in the design of appliances. The paper details the experience and the design of product sounds. The course runs during the second half year and the students are involved through project teams. Products have mostly moving parts with a certain mass that generate sounds. Clearance is the result of tolerances of two fitted parts and the quality of manufacturing these parts. Two types of sounds can be distinguished: intentional sounds and consequential sounds. In product sound design an integrative vision of perception and engineering is needed to be a successful designer/engineer of products. The content of the product sound design course has three main subjects to explain: product, product sound and product sound design. The first quarter consists of an intentional sound project and the consequential sound project takes place in the second quarter. The education format is two projects, one in each quarter, and supported by lectures. The project is finished with a presentation and report. Results for projects in the academic year 2010-2011 will be presented. Findings of these projects will be adapted in the next course. The experiences of course leaders and students are good, which is translated in relatively good marks. The product sound design course fills the gap that exists between sound experts and product designers.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

Auditory signal design for automatic number plate recognition system

This paper focuses on the design of an auditory signal for the Automatic Number Plate Recognition system of Dutch national police. The auditory signal is designed to alert police officers of suspicious cars in their proximity, communicating priority level and location of the suspicious car and taking into account the auditory environment of the police car. Design goals are formulated and corresponding design principles are applied and tested. Conclusions are drawn and discussed and recommendations for future work are made.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

Designing user interfaces for partially automated Vehicles: Effects of information and modality on trust and acceptance

Trust and perceived safety are pivotal in the acceptance of automated vehicles and can be enhanced by providing users with automation information on the (safe) operation of the vehicle. This study aims to identify how user interfaces (UI) can enhance drivers' trust and acceptance and reduce perceived risk in partially automated vehicles. Four interfaces were designed with different levels of complexity. These levels were achieved by combining automation information (surrounding information vs surrounding and manoeuvre information) and modality (visual vs visual and auditory). These interfaces were evaluated in a driving simulator in which a partially automated vehicle reacted to an event of a merging and braking vehicle in its front. The criticality of the events was manipulated by the factors merging gap (in meters) and deceleration (m/s2) of the vehicle in front. The reaction of the automation was either to brake or to change lanes. The results show that an optimal combination of automation information and modality enhances drivers' trust and acceptance. More specifically, the most advanced UI, which provided surrounding and manoeuvre information via the visual and auditory modalities, was associated with the highest trust and acceptance ranking and the lowest perceived risk. Manoeuvre information delivered through the auditory modality was particularly effective in enhancing trust and acceptance. The benefits of the UIs were consistent over events. However, in the most critical events, drivers did not feel entirely safe and did not trust the automation completely. This study suggests that the design of UIs for partially automated vehicles shall include automation information via visual and auditory modalities.Human Information Communication DesignIntelligent Vehicle

Task Prioritization in Dual-Tasking: Instructions versus Preferences

The role of task prioritization in performance tradeoffs during multi-tasking has received widespread attention. However, little is known on whether people have preferences regarding tasks, and if so, whether these preferences conflict with priority instructions. Three experiments were conducted with a high-speed driving game and an auditory memory task. In Experiment 1, participants did not receive priority instructions. Participants performed different sequences of single-task and dual-task conditions. Task performance was evaluated according to participants’ retrospective accounts on preferences. These preferences were reformulated as priority instructions in Experiments 2 and 3. The results showed that people differ in their preferences regarding task prioritization in an experimental setting, which can be overruled by priority instructions, but only after increased dual-task exposure. Additional measures of mental effort showed that performance tradeoffs had an impact on mental effort. The interpretation of these findings was used to explore an extension of Threaded Cognition Theory with Hockey’s Compensatory Control Model.Human Information Communication Desig

The Effect Of 3D Audio And Other Audio Techniques On Virtual Reality Experience

Three studies were conducted to examine the effect of audio on people's experience in a virtual world. The first study showed that people could distinguish between mono, stereo, Dolby surround and 3D audio of a wasp. The second study found significant effects for audio techniques on people's self-reported anxiety, presence, and spatial perception. The third study found that adding sound to a visual virtual world had a significant effect on people's experience (including heart rate), while it found no difference in experience between stereo and 3D audio.Intelligent SystemsElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc