belling the catdesigning product sounds

elif ozcan vieira (PhD)

TU Delft

aesop!s fable

mice in the council

what are product sounds?

product sounds are

a consequence of a functioning product

product sounds influence

our reasoning, emotional state,

purchase decisions, preference and expectations

regarding the product and its functionality.

product sounds are discerned into two

consequential sounds

intentional sounds

product sounds are discerned into two

consequential sounds hairdryers, cars, computers

intentional sounds alarm clocks, mobile phones,

ICUs, interface and web design

what makes product sounds the black cat? products are ubiquitous…

…so are the sounds emitted by them

human values that are universal

harmony

tranquility

support

time (s)

unpleasant

pleasant

pleasant

fairlypleasantneutral

fairly unpleasant

unpleasant

Pleasantness ratings for the Senseo Crema sound

heating heating

pump

ticking

coffee

high squeak

brew noise

0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s

time (s)

pleasantness categories:

large fast power-

ful

rough inno-

vative

luxu-

rious

frivo-

lous

exu-

berant

high

quality

expen-

sive

solid

small slow weak gentletradi-

tional

ordi-

nary serious humblelow

quality cheapflimsy

Senseo Crema

SensNeo 1

SensNeo 3

SensNeo 2

1

1

0

0.5

0.5

0.33

0.33

legend:

what the young enthusiastic mouse knew...

engineering+

psychology

what the young enthusiastic mouse knew... facts about product sounds

sound is the property of a product

(often) not the entity itself

it is the combination of product properties that

determine the concept of a product

consequently, how people appraise a product

and attribute meaning to it

there are perceptually different categories of

product sounds

product sounds belong to a network of

conceptual associations

different sounds categories evoke different

conceptual associations

Air

Ala

rm

Cyclic

Impact

Liq

uid

Mechanic

al

0

20

40

60

80

100

Action

Emotion

Location

Material

Meaning

Onomatopoeia

Psycho-acoustics

Sound Type

Source

Source Properties

Temporal

Product Sound Groups

Rela

tive

Fre

quency

of

Word

s

(%)

there are three main types of

sound identification

however, product sounds are ambiguous

? ?

although their source cannot be identified easily,

product sounds always evoke

a network of conceptual associations

and, context influences meaning attribution

People do not only hear a sound but infer what the

sound represents

Phenomenon

how to bell the cat then?

5 moments of sound design

auditory ergonomics

1

well-being

2

user satisfaction

3

product identity

4

brand differentiation

5

moral of the story..

a well-designed sound is

typical to the product

informative about the product!s

operation cycle

convey implicit/explicit characteristics

of the product

fits the context in which it exists

the end