Sound association for product-sound design using semiotics

Abstract

Sounds from products which carry information about its performance can be called as product sounds. Product sounds can aid visual display and controls if designed effectively. In this work, the authors collected 6,190 sound samples. Out of this, 670 sounds were coded, based on three categories of abstractions, namely index (on causality), icon (on similarity) and symbol (arbitrary). The coded sounds were used to associate them to selected examples of two product interfaces. Design exercises and user surveys were done to confirm the coding of individual sounds, as well as the method of association. Three different methods were used for the surveys. One—to associate sounds based on a given theme; two—to match the sounds provided to the product interface given; three—the subjects were made to listen to selected sounds and asked to describe the meaning they perceive of it. The results from the surveys tallied well with the method of categorization of sounds and their associations, and it provides a structured way of product-sound design.