The Development and Evaluation of an Approach to Auditory Display Design Based on Soundtrack Composition

Abstract

This thesis presents the development and evaluation of a new approach (Sound- TrAD) to designing auditory interfaces. The proposed approach combines practices and concepts from film soundtrack composition with established approaches to general user interface design. The synthesis of the two design approaches from different areas of design into a novel approach may be viewed as an example of conceptual integration, (also known as conceptual blending). The process of developing and evaluating SoundTrAD broadly follows a methodology of Research through Design. The thesis presents four user studies as part of an iterative design and evaluation process. Each study involves a mixture of expert and novice end-users which provides new information and identifi es new questions and design issues for the subsequent studies. The fi rst study explores how an idea from fim composition (the cue sheet) can be used in auditory interface design to help designers place and organise sound elements, and to better understand auditory design spaces. In order to make this concept work in the new context, it is combined with the scenario concept from general interaction design to provide designers with reference linear sequences of events and actions. The second study used thematic analysis to investigate how information to be sonifed can be characterised and analysed for features that can be mapped in to sound. The study also explores the development of a timeline on which the sound design ideas from soundtrack composition for individual events, can be placed and in principle moved in order to cater for multiple use-case scenarios. The third study presents an iteration of this, including further development of both the task analysis and mapping technique. The study also explores the idea in principle of an interactive timeline that can be manipulated by the designer in order to re-arrange and audition sound events. The final study brings the studies together by obtaining feedback on the success of a nal version of SoundTrAD.