Abstract
Traditionally, sounds in user interfaces have served the practical purpose of providing feedback for control operations and informing users of various system states. The purpose of the present study was to explore properties of sounds that are not primarily functional in nature, but might be useful for characterizing and differentiating products based upon semantic qualities. Twenty nine short tonal sequences were created exhibiting a variety of musical properties. Each tonal sequence was evaluated by thirty five participants using a set of twenty three bipolar attribute rating scales intended to capture a range of semantic qualities. Results of a principal components factor analysis revealed four factors: elegance, sturdiness, complexity and activity. These results provide a conceptual framework for describing and differentiating among audio tones based upon their semantic qualities. Physical properties of sounds associated with each factor were also identified providing a design tool for creating new tones to fit a desired semantic profile.
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