General Description
Objective
- To find common rules of digital media devices’ sound effects in order to improve the current auditory user interface
Duration
- Feb 2006 – Mar 2006
Role in the project
- A member of research assistant team consisting of 5 members
- Performed UI analysis on LCD monitor(LG L1720B), MP3 player(iRiver U10), digital camera(Sony DSC-M2) and PDA(HP rx3715)
Framework
The research was made up of three main parts. The first part was input device type research, and the second was information architecture(IA) and navigation system. The last part was graphic issue such as highlight, 3D transition and icon movement.
Input device part dealt with relationship between input device type and sound effect. Further, what kind of new input devices can be applicable to each category was also considered. Common structure and flow for each category was extracted by IA and navigation part. Last, graphic issues covered relationship between input device and graphic effects. However, graphic issues were dealt with less significance relatively.
The scope of the research covered visual display, fixed printer, computer, MP3 player, camera, camcorder and other mobile devices. Using accessibility criterion, three or four product model were chosen for each product category.
Input Device
First, classify every input point of each product into several types such as push button, jog, switch and lever.
Example of input point classification
After classification, sound effects for each input point were recorded and summarized into the table like shown below.
Input device and sound effect summary
Information Architecture and Navigation Flow
In the IA and navigation part, brief information structure of the device was drawn first. Then, a few scenario were chosen that required various actions using as many input points as possible. Two scenarios are highlighted in red and orange color in the captured slide below.
Example of information architecture (Sony DSC-M2)
Based on the action scenario, sound and graphic issues were summarized in tables.
High-speed shooting mode
Conclusion
After performing the processes mentioned above on about 40 digital devices, the conclusion on relationship between sound and input device, sound and navigation type was drawn.
Relationship between input devices and sound
Relationship between navigation and sound
