1 HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION, 1989, Volume 4, pp Copyright O 1989, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Earcons and Icons: Their Structure and Common Design Principles Meera M. Blattner, Denise A. Sumikawa, and Robert M. Greenberg Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and The University of Calqornia, Davis ABSTRACT In this article we examine earcons, which are audio messages used in the user-computer interface to provide information and feedback to the user about computer entities. (Earcons include messages and functions, as well as states and labels.) We identify some design principles that are common to both visual symbols and auditory messages, and discuss the use of representational and abstract icons and earcons. We give some examples of audio patterns that may be used to design modules for earcons, which then may be assembled into larger groupings called families. The modules are single pitches or rhythmicized sequences of pitches called motives. The families are constructed about related motives that serve to identify a family of related messages. Issues concerned with learning and remembering earcons are discussed. A preliminary version of this article was presented at the Nineteenth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Meera M. Blattner is also with the Department of Biomathematics, M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Hospital, University of Texas Medical Center, Houston, TX Authors' prcsmt oddrcsscs: Meera Blattner, L-540, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, CA 94550; Denise Sumikawa, L-262, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, CA 94550; Robert Greenberg, 4241 Edge Drive, Oakland, CA
2 BLATTNER, SUMIKAWA, GREENBERG CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. SOME WORK RELATED TO THE STUDY OF AUDIO INFORMATION 3. ICONS: THE GRAPHICAL COUNTERPART OF EARCONS 3.1. The Use of Icons in Existing Systems 3.2. Types of Icons 3.3. Iconic Families 3.4. The Design of Icons 4. EARCON DESIGN PRINCIPLES 4.1. Representational Earcons 4.2. Abstract Earcons 5. MOTIVES 5.1. Rhythm 5.2. Pitch 5.3. The Variable Parameters of Motives Timbre Register Dynamics 5.4. Length of Earcons 6. EARCON CONSTRUCTION 6.1. One-Element Earcons 6.2. Compound Earcons 6.3. Inherited Earcons 6.4. Transformed Earcons 7. LEARNING, REMEMBERING, AND UNDERSTANDING EARCONS 7.1. Learning and Remembering Earcons 7.2. Classes, Types, and Hierarchies 7.3. Space Complexity and Memory 7.4. A Summary of Learning and Memory Issues for Earcons 8. CONCLUDING REMARKS 1. INTRODUCTION One of the most successful improvements to the user-computer interface made within the last decade is the inclusion of icons - graphical symbols that visually represent information in the computer display. Icons can present a great deal of information concisely. However, overly dense visual displays can lead to a "cognitive overload" that adversely affects a user's decision-making performance (Ramsey & Atwood, 1980). Therefore, alternate channels of communication should be explored. Sound is such an alternative communication channel. Sounds can be grouped or structured along principles similar to those of icons. We call such
3 EARCONS AND ICONS structured sounds earcons,' which are defined as nonverbal audio messages used in the user-computer interface to provide information to the user about some computer object, operation, or interaction. Examples of computer objects are files, menus, and prompts. Editing, compiling, and executing are examples of operations. An example of an interaction between an object and an operation is editing a file. Earcons, then, are the aural counterparts of icons. As one might expect, many icon design techniques also apply to earcon design, so it would be profitable to illuminate the principles of icon design and to draw appropriate parallels. However, there is little, if any, published material about aspects of icon design such as hierarchical and transformational organization, particularly in the formal or syntactic aspects of design. Therefore, a second goal is to examine icon types and construction methods, particularly as these methods apply to syntactic issues, that is, the formal arrangement of symbols. In addition, for earcons to be useful, they must be easy to comprehend and remember. For this reason, we delve briefly into learning theory to illustrate how listeners acquire and retain sound information that is to be associated with some external event. In this article, we propose methods for constructing audio messages with meanings derived through modular, transformational, and hierarchical structures. The methods make use of motives, which are single pitches or rhythmicized sequences of pitches. These motives may be assembled into larger groupings called families. This approach is not meant to exclude alternative designs; the main utility of our scheme is that it is easy to understand, use, and modify. The guidelines are written for those who are not experts in sound or music theory. The guidelines lay out some simple rules and a limited range of choices. Once the basic choices and constraints are laid out, the nonexpert can follow this methodology to produce a useful set of earcons. In the next section, we discuss icons as the visual counterpart of earcons. There is one striking difference in the applications of icons and earcons at the present time. Icons are both selectable and informational, whereas earcons are informational only. There are other differences that must be considered as well. Earcons are transient but, while they are played, they demand our attention. Icons may be, and usually are, presented simultaneously. The presentation of simultaneous earcons is more complex. Some examples of possible applications of audio cues are: 1. The arrival of a mail message. 2. The system going down in a few minutes. ' An unknown referee pointed out that "earconn has been used in Buxton, Baecker, awl Arnott (1985).
4 14 BLATTNER, SUMIKAWA, GREENBERG 3. The echo of a mode of an operation. 4. The indication of a misspelled word in user input. 5. A sound equivalent of a file name or available tool. 6. A reminder that a file in temporary workspace has not been written to disk. 7. An out-of-bounds variable in a structured editor. 2. SOME WORK BELATED TO THE STUDY OF AUDIO INFORMATION The development of user interfaces has been linked to the technology of cathode ray tubes. For this reason, sound input/output has been slow in developing; the use of sound has not been sufficiently explored. Voice is a primary means of communication for sound, just as text is a natural first choice for graphical presentations. Voice and text have many similar properties as a means of communicating information. Both are sequential, highly dependent on a natural or programming language, and generally require the user's full attention for comprehension. Hence, it is natural that voice became the first to be explored as a means of communication in the incorporation of sound in the user interface. Some of the previous work in nonverbal audio communication in usercomputer interfaces is in the area of data analysis. Sound can be used successfully for the analysis of multivariate, time-varying, and logarithmic data (Bly, 1982). Auditory displays of data have been used as an additional avenue of information transfer (Lunney et al., 1983; Mansur, Blattner, & Joy, 1985; Mezrich, Frysinger, & Slivjanovski, 1984). Audio alarms and signals of various types were with us long before there were computers. They are related to earcons as examples of audio messages. The characteristics and features of audio alarms in use as warning signals have been studied by Deatherage (1972) and Adams and Trucks (1976). In their studies, the alarms were horns, whistles, sirens, bells, buzzers, chimes, and oscillators with varying intensity and frequency. It has long been known that messages presented using voice seem to be assimilated with less effort than the same messages presented through visual media (Elliot, 1937; Sticht, 1969). Studies made by Buxton (personal communication, July 27, 1987) in video arcades show that scores drop when the sound accompanying video games is turned off. Gaver (1986) studied auditory icons, a subject similar to the one we examine. We construct families of sounds by the use of compound audio elements, whereas Gaver examined auditory icons as caricatures of naturally occurring sounds. Gaver's work is discussed in Section 4.1. Portions of this material appeared in another study (Sumikawa, 1985) that presented guidelines for the use of earcons in the user-computer interface.
5 EARCONS AND ICONS Art is to icons as music is to earcons. Even though earcons are not music, a knowledge of music is important in understanding the problems of designing audio messages. There is a great deal of literature relevant to the study of audio messages in the area of the psychology of music. A good selection of papers on this subject can be found in Deutsch (1982~). The Computer Music Journal has been a valuable resource for us. One of the recent significant advances in computer music is the development of the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), a standard interface between computers and music synthesizers. MIDI is both a hardware standard and a software protocol. Now, sound interfaces of great musical complexity may be written to be played on a variety of computer and synthesizer systems (Loy, 1985; Moog, 1986). 3. ICONS: THE GRAPHICAL COUNTERPART OF EARCONS Valuable insight on the design of earcons can be obtained by investigating the wealth of information on their graphical counterpart, icons. As with any new area, the most effective applications of earcons are undoubtedly still unknown. At the present time, the use of earcons can best be understood through the similarities with icons. This is not to say that earcons are identical to icons in both composition and usage. We draw the analogy primarily to model a new concept. This section examines icons: what they are, the principles behind their structure and design, and how individuals learn and use them. We believe the organizational division of modular, hierarchical, and transformational icons is a new insight into their formal (not semantic) design The Use of Icons in Existing Systems Early computer interfaces typically displayed information as text. This trend has changed considerably since the early 1970s as graphical symbols, known as icons,' have come to convey more information. Icons are versatile because they can represent a variety of computer entities in the user interface. Examples include system state information, utilities, processes, programs, The term icon in its ordinary English usage means a highly representational image. The term uisunl symbol is often used for abstract or semi-abstract symbols. In computer science the term icon has assumed the broader meaning that includes both representational images and visual symbols. Reprcscnfational icons is not redundant in this terminology. Iconic representation is also used for musical images as well as for graphical images, although this use is less well known. One reason why we believe it is important not to distinguish between icons, in their traditional meaning, and visual symbols is that many computer interfaces intermix these types and a single name is required for both. The term icon has assumed this meaning among computer users.
6 16 BLATTNER, SUMIKAWA, GREENBERG Figure I. Representational icons are immediately recognizable pictures of objects. Icon (a) is from the Apple Mainto& computer, 0 Apple Computer, Inc., Cupertino, CA. Used with permission. Icon (b) is from Gmphic Communication (p. 69) by W. J. Bowman, 1968, New York: John Wiley and Sons. Copyright by John Wiley and Sons. Reprinted by permission. Icon (c) is from Symbol Si&s (p. 160) by the AIGA staff, 1981, New York: Hastings House. Copyright 1981 by AIGA. Reprinted by permission. Trash I commands, cursors, menus, menu items, windows, screen selection buttons. and status objects such as files. Iconic communication is successful because its imagery relies on the human ability to quickly perceive natural form and shape (Huggins & Entwisle, 1974). In addition, icons can represent much information in a small amount of space (Hemenway, 1982). Other advantages are less apparent. For example, research indicates that users spot, recognize, and process graphical images faster than they do words (Hemenway, 1982; Shneiderman, 1986). Users also make selections from iconic menus faster than they do word- or phrase-based menus (Marcus, 1984). Icons often have a universality about them that is not possessed by written language (Kolers, 1969). To facilitate and maximize the international exchange of computers, displays must be as language free as possible. Similar advantages hold for holistic information in general- earcons as well as icons Types of Icons Our study showed that different types of icons are in use. Some are pictures of familiar objects, whereas others are stylized compositions of geometric shapes and marks. To simplify our investigation, we classify and distinguish between three different types of icons. Borrowing terminology describing sign types in general (Marcus, 1984), we label these icons as (a) representational, (b) abstract, and (c) semi-abstract (a combination of representational and abstract). Representational icons are typically simple pictures of familiar objects or operations. Many of the icons found in the Star (Smith, Irby, Kimball, Verplank, & Harslem, 1982), Lisa (Williams, 1983), and Macintosh systems are representational icons (see Figure 1). However, representational icons do have their limitations. Many objects and operations do not have a familiar or obvious pictorial representation. Even those that do may be difficult to draw
7 Figure 2. Abstract icons are composed of geometric shapes and other nonrecognizable figures. Note. From "Corporate Identity for Iconic Interface Design: The Graphic Design Perspective" by A. Marcus, 1984, Computer Graphics and 4, p by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
8 18 BLATTNER, SUMIKAWA, GREENBERG Figure 3. Semi-abstract icons are combinations of abstract and representational icons. Note. From Sptboii 107) by H. Dreyfuss, 1972, New York: McGraw-Hill. Copyright 1972 by H. Dreyfitss, Inc. Reprinted by permission. STEAM INSPECTtON WINDOW STEAM STEAM PRESSURE and implement, because some objects and operations are detailed or complicated. Not every implementer is an artist! Representational images have a more basic problem: Suppose we wish to convey the message "John is tall." A picture of John may also convey the information that John is wearing a checked shirt or that John has red hair (Fodor, 1981). Abstract icons (Figure 2) are formed by combining geometric marks and shapes to depict a specific computer object or operation that is not easily or optimally depicted by a picture. Semi-abstract icons (Figure 3) may be either composed of both representational and abstract images or may be a representational image so simplified that it can only be considered an "abstracted" form. Most visual signs used in international communication fall into this category of highly abstracted representations (American Institute of Graphic Arts [AIGA], 1981). Amhim (1969) begeved that any picture, other than a photograph, must be considered partly as an abstraction. We do not dispute this statement, but we classic the symbols in Figure 1 as representational because of their resemblance to the object depicted. Visual symbols of all types have been studied in the context of graphic art. A good deal of time and effort has gone into the development of an international set of symbol signs for public areas whose meaning can be grasped immediately and unambiguously (AIGA, 1981; Dreyfuss, 1972). Graphic designers are more concerned with the message communicated by the symbol rather than its classification as representational or abstract; it is often difficult to classify icons as clearly being of one type or another (AIGA, 1981). It is best to consider representational and abstract as the endpoints in a continuous scale of abstraction, but coarsely broken into the three classifications previously discussed. The general structure of icons, regardless of type, can be broken into two components: elements and compounds (Kolers, 1969). An element is a graphical image, either representational or geometric, whose decomposition
9 EARCONS AND ICONS Figure 4. Icons can be related by combining elements. Delete character ;8( Magnify Cut selection Paste selection would result in uninterpretable parts. Countless pictographic images, geometric shapes, and marks can be used as elements. A compound is any combination of these elements Iconic Families Many computer entities representable by icons have a variety of features in common. Computer commands, for example, are highly structured sets, in which many commands share features (Hemenway, 1982). We can create icons sharing common features to represent relationships between entities. Therefore, similarly shaped elements represent similar classes of information (Kolers, 1969). The advantages of shared elements are that users have less to learn and that they may make predictions about important characteristics of an unfamiliar command. We have identified at least three ways of creating compound icons: (a) combining, (b) transforming, and (c) inheriting. Figure 4 shows icons produced by combining symbols. In this scheme, some elements represent objects and others actions. The icon that shares an object and action represents the performance of an action upon an object (Hemenway, 1982). Compound icons created through transformation often represent objects with an associated state. A transformation is depicted in Figure 5, which shows a symbolic representation of heating elements on a stove. Korfhage and Korfhage (1984) described methods of creating compound objects in pictolinguistic languages. Our own examples, taken from Japanese, are shown in Figure 6. Here we have an example of compound objects with inheritance. The symbol for "fire" is the root of the transformation and when combined with the symbol for "flood" represents "disaster." "Ashes," "inflammation," and "palen are also created in this manner. The hierarchy, in this case, is not generic in meaning; ideas move from simple to complex. The
10 20 BLATTNER, SUMIKAWA, GREENBERG Figure 5. Icons can be related with traneformations. Note. From Symbols Soumebook (p. 102) by H. Dreyfuss, 1972, New York: McGraw-Hill. Copyright 1972 by H. Dreyfuss, Inc. Reprinted by permission. I LEFT REAR BURNER I LEFT FRONT BURNER Figure 6. Icons can be related by inheriting elements from other icons. <<< inflammation (fire - cliff) ashes (water - infkrmmttion) pale or thin scheme we suggest for earcons will be hierarchical in both syntax and semantics. In all three methods-combining, transforming, and inheritingwe use symbols to define a class or family of related objects The Design of Icons The concept of "figural goodness" in Gestalt psychology helps to determine the general characteristics of a "good" icon. Easterby (1970) used figural goodness to describe five characteristics possessed by a good icon: closure, continuity, symmetry, simplicity, and unity. These guidelines apply to musical figures as well (Davies, 1978; Deutsch, 1982a; Meyer, 1967). Gestalt psychologists proposed that stimuli are grouped into configurations on the
11 EARCONS AND ICONS 2 1 basis of various simple principles, which Deutsch characterized as proximity, similarity, and continuity. Principles of good graphic design also apply to icon design. Marcus (1984) described graphic design principles in his concept of "corporate graphicsn: The concept of corporate graphics implies that all images are designed to meet unique communication needs, while being adjusted to produce a visual consistency with the system. This combined approach can be achieved by the use of a constant scale, limited size variations, the orientation of figures with respect to text, limited use of colors, limited variations in line weights, and the treatment of borders for figure or pictograms. These visual themes help to establish recognizability, clarity, and consistency. (p. 26) The aforementioned principles provide valuable information on the general design of icons, but they are somewhat vague for the actual design process. Easterby (1970) advocated an experimental design approach in which the designer first defines a prototype for each icon in the interface while considering the general principles, the function to be represented, and the notions developed from research on pattern perception and discrimination. The designer then does human-factor tests on the intended user population. Finally, the designer manipulates these prototypes according to the results obtained in the human-factor experiments. The Easterby approach to icon design would work equally well with earcons. The AIGA has used a similar approach to evaluate passengerlpedestrian oriented symbols for the U.S. Department of Transportation (AIGA, 1981). Evaluations were made in two ways: through a private rating of each symbol on a symbol concept evaluation sheet and through committee discussions. Each symbol was rated on a scale from 1 to 5 on its semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic dimensions. 4. EARCON DESIGN PRINCIPLES Even though they utilize different senses, icons and earcons involve similar communication needs and design problems. Knowledge obtained by examining theories of icon design can be used to model equally successful approaches for earcons. Just as in icon design, we divide earcons into three classes: representational, abstract, and semi-abstract Representational Earcons Many different schemes for designing earcons are possible. One such scheme might involve digitizing natural sounds from the surrounding
12 BLATTNER, SUMIKAWA, GREENBERG environment. The first inclination with icons is to use highly representational images of existing objects. In the same way, natural sounds could be used as audio messages. We denote these representational earcons. The advantages and disadvantages of representational earcons are similar to those of pictorial icons. Gaver (1986) investigated representational earcons, which he called auditory icons. His auditory icons are caricatures of naturally occurring sounds such as bumps, scrapes, or even files hitting mailboxes. He divided the mappings between data and their auditory representation into three different types: symbolic, nomic, and metaphorical. Symbolic mappings rely on social convention for meaning, such as applause for approval; nomic (the most concrete) representations are physical, such as the sound of a closing metal cabinet for closing a file; and metaphorical mappings that are similarities, such as falling pitch for falling object. Gaver noted that auditory icons need not be realistic representations of the objects they portray but should capture their essential features, as do representational icons Abstract Earcons Marcus described a set of "elementsn - geometric shapes and marks used as building blocks of sets of icons. The power behind his method is the very existence of these well-defined elements, which can be put together in various ways to build large and highly customized sets of icons. In the same way, the earcon design approach advocated here used single pitches or groups of pitches as the elements or building blocks of earcons. Motives, described more fully in the following section, are sequences of pitches that create a short, distinctive audio pattern often characterized by the simplicity of its rhythm and pitch design (Christ, DeLone, Kliewer, Rowell, & Thomson, 1966). Their very brevity and distinctive manner make motives very powerful tools for composing earcons. Compound earcons composed of motives or single pitches can be used to express complex objects. Of the many possible design approaches, ours has the following advantages: 1. It is systematic, with well-defined building blocks that may be used to construct larger sets of earcons. A systematic approach is usually straightforward to understand and use. Modularity allows easy modification, future expansion, and tailorability. 2. Motives may be transformed, combined, or inherited, thereby creating families of related motives. 3. Motives may be grouped into families, where earcons with similar meanings have similar sounds; different families will sound dissimilar. 4. Our approach is easily implementable on most contemporary computer systems, large or small. Most computers today have the necessary
13 EARCONS AND ICONS 23 equipment to perform rhythm and simple pitch. This approach makes investments in expensive sound boards or other specialized equipment unnecessary. Regardless of which approach is taken for the design and implementation of audio messages in a sight-and-sound user interface, including an expert in sound relationships in the design team to determine initial constants of a sightlsound user-computer interface is of utmost importance. Ideally, the expert should be a professional composer, preferably one with some experience in electronic (synthesized) music. The science of sound is a highly technical, diverse, and complicated discipline. An expert in this field understands the existence, importance, implications, and consequences of the many perceptual problems of sound/language structures. The guidelines, as presented here, are written for those who are not experts in sound. Experts may wish to use our syntactic methods, while embellishing and varying sound relationships. 5. MOTIVES A motive is a brief succession of pitches arranged to produce a rhythmic and tonal pattern suffkiently distinct to allow it to function as an individual, recognizable entity (Bernstein & Picker, 1966). We use these larger structures for earcons. We define a motive, then, as a rhythmicized sequence of pitches. Rhythm and pitch are thejixedparametcrs of motives, and timbre, register, and dynamics are the variable paramten of motives. The eloquence of motives lies in their ability to be combined to create larger recognizable structures. The repetition of motives, either exact or varied, or the linking of several different motives produces larger, more self-sufficient patterns. Note, however, that an earcon is any audio message and need not be a motive. The material of rhythm, pitch, timbre, register, and dynamics may be found in textbooks on music appreciation, such as Christ et al. (1966), Bernstein and Picker (1966), and Kerman (1980) Rhythm Rhythm is the most prominent characteristic of a motive. Listeners respond more readily to rhythm than to any other musical parameter. Kerman (1980) stated that "No single feature of music, not even melody, determines the effect of music more crucially than the timing and weighting of notes" (p. 5). In music, duration is indicated with note values. Common time divisions and their iconic notations are listed in Figure 7. A whole note is generally given the longest time value. A half note is half as long as a whole note, a quarter note
14 24 BLATTNER, SUMIKAWA, GREENBERG Figure 7. Musical notations that indicate note duration. Note Type Y Notation 1/16 1B Dotted 1B Dotted Dotted 1B Whole is half again as long, and so on. Short silences (called rests) as well as timed sounds can be used to create rhythms for earcons. The easiest way to produce two distinct motives is to vary the rhythmic structure of each. The same sequence of pitches can be made to sound different when different rhythmic structures are imposed on it Pitch The pitch sequence of motives can take a variety of forms because so many pitches are available. Most computer users are familiar with the tonal system of eight octaves of 12 pitches each. In theory then, 96 unique one-pitch earcons, 9,216 two-pitch motives, 884,736 three-pitch motives, and 84,934,656 four-pitch motives are possible. In reality, however, it is difficult to distinguish the fundamental frequency of very low and very high pitches. This, along with the difficulty of reproducing such extreme frequencies, eliminates these outer octaves from consideration. In addition, motives constructed of random pitches from these 96 available are undesirable. The pitches chosen for a particular motive are important. All pitches in a motive should be chosen from the same octave to avoid problems inherent in octave perception. This also facilitates changing the register of the pitch sequence (Section 5.3).
15 EARCONS AND ICONS 2 5 Figure 8. The pitches that make up an octave. Note. From Listen (p. 18) by J. Kerman, 1980, New York: Worth Publishers, Inc. Copyright 1983 by Joseph Kerman. Reprinted by permission. DIATONIC SCALE (one octave) Careful attention must be paid to the harmonic references and implications created by the sequence of pitches in an earcon. By controlling the harmonic relationships implied by certain pitch sequences, one avoids creating unwanted expectations on the part of users and avoids a subsequent need for tonal resolution. To understand the following important information and guidelines on motive construction, a short digression into musical theory is necessary. In Western tonal music, the octave (see Figure 8) is divided into 12 pitches, each equidistant from its neighbor. These 12 pitches collectively constitute the chromatic scale. The distance between any two adjacent pitches in the chromatic scale is called a half step. For example, C-C# and B-C are each a half step apart. Two half steps equal one whole step. C-D and F-G are each a whole step apart. The existence of half steps in a sequence of pitches can create musical tension, which in certain contexts should be avoided for earcon construction, unless, of course, this tension is desirable for its semantic and
16 26 BLATTNER, SUMIKAWA, GREENBERG pragmatic effects. The novice user will have the least difficulty if he uses preexisting pitch structures known as the diatonic rnayor/minor scales. Major and minor scales are seven-note scales, the adjacent notes of which are variously half steps and whole steps apart. We also refer to intervals, the distance between two pitches as measured by the number of diatonic scale notes between them. Because of cultural familiarity with major and minor modes, motives using notes drawn from a single major or minor scale will be easily recognized and understood. (Learning and memory are discussed in Section 7.) 5.3. The Variable Parameters of Motives We identify motives by rhythm and pitch. In some sense, a motive played with a different timbre is still the "same" motive. Think of some familiar tune such as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." It will remain the same tune even if the octave varies or we change the instrument on which it is played. Dowling (1982) studied the identification of melodies with varying attributes. As an earcon, however, the meaning associated with a motive may change with a change in timbre, dynamics, or register. Timbre Timbre is a tonal attribute that refers to the quality or "color" of a sound. Musical instruments sound different because the physical makeup of their sound differs. For example, the same note played on a piano and clarinet sounds different because each instrument has its own peculiar set of waveforms and harmonics. The timbre of a sound is usually described with adjectives such as bright, warm, harsh, hollow, twangy, or brassy. Even though timbre is difficult to describe and notate precisely, it is one of the most immediate and easily recognizable characteristics of sound (Kerman, 1980). Earcons assembled by novice users should be made from a set of brisic, easily differentiated waveforms. The sinusoidal waveform will be "timbreless" because it is pure, unmodulated sound. The sine wave lacks timbre in the same sense that white lacks color. To alter our perception of a given earcon, we can simply change the earcon's waveform, thereby producing a different timbre. Register Register refers to the relative highllow of a pitch or a set of pitches. An earcon in the low register sounds "lown; one in the high register sounds "high." If we label the eight octaves in our tonal system 1 to 8, from low to high respectively, we can define an earcon in a low register, Octave 2, for example, as one with pitches entirely contained in one of the lower octaves. (As explained previously, an earcon in the lowest octave would be difficult to
17 EARCONS AND ICONS Figure 9. An earcon with dynamics that change from soft to loud. (soft - loud) distinguish and reproduce.) Likewise, a motive with medium register has pitches from Octaves 4 or 5, and one with high register has pitches from Octave 7. Register can be creatively manipulated to indicate vertical location or direction in a sightlsound interface. Earcons constructed with pitch sequences contained in the low, medium, or high registers are easily differentiated and, therefore, easily perceived. An earcon can be made to sound very different by changing its register. In Section 5.2, "Pitch," we suggest that an earcon be composed of pitches from a single octave because changing the register of that earcon, thereby producing a new sound, is very easy. Dynamics Dynamics refers to the relative loudness or softness of an earcon. One can differentiate the relative loudness or softness of an earcon by making its dynamics either constant or variable. Thus, an earcon can be loud for the duration of the motive, soft for the duration of the motive, graded from loud to soft, and graded from soft to loud. Any combination of these four is also possible. Dynamics can be creatively used in an earcon to indicate direction from left to right. For example, the three-note earcon shown in Figure 9, whose dynamics changes from soft to loud, could be used to indicate a direction or movement, as in the nomic mappings suggested by Gaver (1986). The musical term describing this feature of dynamics is the crescendo. Crescendo means "to grown in Italian and represents a sound (or sounds) increasing from soft to loud. The opposite, a decrescnzdo, means "to get smaller" and describes from loud to soft. The musical notation for a crescendo is the wedge-shaped symbol shown under the earcon in Figure 9. A decrescendo is the same symbol reversed. Both crescendo and decrescendo can be used in motives to indicate location, for example, of a window on the computer screen. Also, an earcon representing the operations of enlarging, zooming, and shrinking could be constructed from motives in which the dynamics have been creatively varied Length of Earcons The length of an earcon should be sufficient to convey the message effectively, but no longer. The earcon's meaning must come across as quickly
18 28 BLATTNER, SUMIKAWA, GREENBERG and as easily as possible since sound is transient. The optimal number of pitches in a motive is two to four: "A motive is as short as two or three notesjust long enough so that its rhythmic andlor melodic character is easily recognized and easily remembered when it comes back again" (Kerman, 1980, p. 22). We suggest an upper limit of four pitches for several reasons. Sound takes place in time, so unlike images, a listener cannot dwell on a sequence of pitches (Miller, 1956). Therefore, motives should be kept as short as possible so listeners can make the necessary audio connections between pitches. However, a long succession of pitches tends to create a melodic pattern. Motives consisting of more than four pitches can have undesirable melodic implications. As soon as an earcon sounds like a tune, the listener will associate that earcon with music. Hearing a simple tune 10 or more times a day potentially irritates users and could cause audio fatigue.3 6. EARCON CONSTRUCTION Just as icons consist of different structures that coexist in the same user interface, so do earcons. Combining one or more audio elements to create an earcon leads to two basic types of structures: (a) earcons composed of only one element and (b) earcons composed of more than one element (compound earcons) One-Element Earcons One-element earcons may be digitized sounds, a sound created by a synthesizer, a single note, or a motive. An element may be compared to a word, whereas a note may be compared to a letter of the alphabet. Elements need not be purely of one type, for example, Kana, the Japanese written language. Kanji characters (Chinese pictograms) are used with two different phonetic alphabets, Katakana and Hiragana. Similarly, in our sound language we can use a variety of elements to create the basic sounds. We may even include voice in this collection; however, with the inclusion of voice the theory grows complex. We recommend that the user form audio messages from one simple scheme. Single-pitch and single-motive earcons are both composed of one element. A singh-pitch earcon is any audio message composed of one note with the attributes of pitch, duration, and dynamics. Because single-pitch earcons are Communicated by our expert in sound relationships, Robert M. Greenberg. This view is also supported by Davies (1978), who pointed out that studies show people dislike tunes that are low in complexity. A tune, already simple in structure, would become even more so through familiarity.
19 EARCONS AND ICONS 29 simplest, they can be used to represent simple, basic, or commonly occurring user-interface entities such as key clicks, cursors, or selection mechanisms. A single pitch earcon that decreases in volume can be used as an audio cue to indicate that a computer is going down. Here, the single, decreasingvolume pitch becomes a metaphor for the application it depicts (Gaver, 1986). Another example of a single-pitch earcon is a key click representing an editing mode, say the delete mode. The user hears the click each time a character is deleted. A single-motive earcon has the attributes of rhythm, pitch, timbre, register, and dynamics. Because single-motive earcons are relatively simple, they can represent basic, common computer entities such as certain error messages, system information, windows, and files. A single-motive earcon might represent some system message in one of several windows displayed simultaneously on a screen. The earcon's register and dynamics can indicate the location of the window displaying the system message. Low register and soft dynamics, for example, might indicate that a system message is being displayed in the lower left window Compound Earcons The three construction principles for compound earcons are combining, inheriting, and transforming. These three methods are used with both representational and abstract elements. Combined earcons are formed by placing two or more audio elements in succession. The combined icons in Section 3.2 were objectloperation icons. As with combined icons, combined earcons can represent computer entities sharing common features and are constructed by using similar audio elements to represent similar classes of information. We assume that a set of audio elements (one element for each feature shared by two or more system entities) has been constructed, and thus these elements can be combined into different earcons depicting various system functions. The elements of this set, called the prinay set, are constructed according to the guidelines of Section 6.1. We use the elements of the primary set to construct a unique earcon that represents a system function or computer entity. We can then systematically build up a large set of earcons for the entire system. Repeating of audio elements gives us the same advantages for earcons as repeating visual elements did for icons: ease of construction, set expansion, and ease of user identification and retention. Combining elements is a simple method of creating - both icons and earcons because it requires little understanding of hierarchies or other abstractions. As an example, we define a set of audio elements representing the computer
20 BLATTNER, SUMIKAWA, GREENBERG Figure 10. The four audio elements: CREATE, DESTROY, FILE, and TEXT STRING. (a) CREATE (b) DESTROY (c) FILE (d) TEXT STRING entities CREATE, represented by one crescendo pitch; DESTROY, by a different decrescendo pitch; FILE, by a two-note motive with a long, long rhythm; and TEXT STRING, by a two-note motive with the short, short rhythm (Figure 10). Using these audio elements, we can systematically construct earcons for the computer entities CREATE FILE (Figure 1 la), DESTROY FILE (Figure 11 b), CREATE TEXT STRING (Figure 1 lc), and DESTROY TEXT STRING (Figure 1 ld), by combining the audio elements for the common features Inherited Earcons An earcon in a family of earcons related by inherited or transformed attributes is a family earcon. First we examine hierarchical families. Each earcon is like a node in a tree of earcons, where an earcon on the nth level is a sequence of n elements. The first n-1 elements are the preceding n-1 elements of that node. Figure 12 shows these sequences. Each level modifies an attribute of motives on that level. Because we have only five attributes (rhythm, pitch, timbre, dynamics, and register), only five levels are possible. Following are the rules for forming hierarchical families of earcons: 1. The hierarchy of messages pertaining to computer entities must be clustered into families, that is, the entity families and their descendents to be represented by audio messages must be identified. Examples of such families are the ERROR MESSAGE, WINDOW, PROMPT, and EDITOR. In this article, our examples of hierarchies are generic, so "error" is generic for "operating system error" in Figure 12.
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