A method for comparative evaluation of listening to auditory displays by designers and listeners

Droumeva, Milena; McGregor, Iain

Abstract

The process of designing and testing auditory displays often includes evaluations only by experts, and where non-experts are involved, training is commonly required. This paper presents a method of evaluating sound designs that does not require listener training, thus promoting more ecological practices in auditory display design. Complex sound designs can be broken down into discrete sound events, which can then be rated using a set of sound attributes that are meaningful to both designers and listeners. The two examples discussed in this paper include an auditory display for a commercial vehicle, and a set of sound effects for a video game. Both are tested using a repertory grid approach. The paper shows that the method can highlight similarities and differences between designer and user listening experiences thus informing design decisions and subsequently reception.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (Published)
• Conference Name: ICAD 2014
• Start Date: Jun 22, 2014
• End Date: Jun 25, 2014
• Acceptance Date: Dec 31, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Jun 1, 2014
• Publication Date: Jun 25, 2014
• Deposit Date: Oct 29, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 12, 2021
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: The 20th International Conference on Auditory Display
• Keywords: Auditory display; sound design; listener training; evaluation; auditory display design
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/7266