Problem
What's the best way to help interaction designers learn to design auditory interfaces?

Solution
Most approaches to auditory interface design rely on overly prescriptive metaphors. Failed GUIs from the 1980s are often testament to this same approach. Relying on metaphors to guide auditory interface design also ignores how most interaction designers work: they design and think about design visually.

After researching how interaction designers approach visual design problems, I developed a framework for approaching elements of sound, such as pitch and volume, in a manner similar to visual elements, such as alignment, grouping, and choice of type.

Using this framework, I designed several solutions for each of two interaction design problems to demonstrate how the approach allows designers flexiblity in their design solutions.

In addition to developing the framework, the demonstration solutions proved easy to understand. The use of spatialization in the examples was unique and suggested future directions for additional research and design.

Read More
Audiocentric Interface Design: A Building Blocks Approach
Presented at the 2003 International Community for Auditory Display conference in Boston, MA.

Collaborators
Tad Hirsch, Francine Gemperle, and Anthony Kolb. Carried out as a project within the Wearable Group. Sponsored by Intel and the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse.

Selected images	Final Presentation [PDF]
Auditory Interface Design Independent Study, Fall Semester 2002 I researched how auditory interfaces are currently designed, created a new approach, and produced several interactive auditory interfaces to demonstrate its usefulness to interaction designers.