Antibeeps
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The document discusses the overuse of warning beeps and proposes alternative methods of grabbing human attention and distributing auditory attention. It notes that while beeps have historically been used to signal warnings, their additive approach of overwhelming other sounds assumes the signal is the most important. An alternative subtractive model is proposed where attention is grabbed by a change rather than addition. The goal is to create a more respectful relationship between signals, listeners, and their environment.
Antibeeps
- 1. Antibeeps Interesting Sounds Arnolfini 26.04.2009 Richard Sandford
- 2. How are things now? Crowded auditory environment Lots of this from designed sounds Especially beeps Do they still work?
- 3. Beeps Long history of warning sounds Shouting, bells, whistles, sirens Beeps arrived with transistor technology Limited technologically Aim is to attract attention rapidly Presumes an urgent action needed
- 4. Beeps They’re important Preventing death etc So they come first What else could you be doing that’s more important than not dying? What if everyone thought like that? What does that say about your right to be there? Does every beep mean something important?
- 5. Politeness It’s bad manners to assume that you’re the most important voice in the room Probably true for ambulances Probably not so true for dust-carts Why isn’t there a siren in the driver’s cab?
- 6. Different models Currently we have an additive approach Object is to overwhelm the rest of the auditory environment “ sirens need to be 15hz above ambient background and to be between 300 - 3000hz” Other ways of getting humans to distribute their attention differently
- 7. (Audition Frequency, amplitude, pulse speed, harmonics and formants, tremolo, ghosting Bottom-up Pre-attentive, automatic: can’t help listening Top-down Schema-based, internal representations: learned what the sound means Gestalt laws of perceptual organisation Using similarity, proximity to differentiate sounds)
- 8. Other attention-grabbing sounds Twig breaking in the forest Sword being drawn from scabbard Chris Moyles Butler’s cough Which is a better way of waking up?
- 9. Subtractive model? Getting attention by taking something away Training us to respond to a change Computational response?
- 10. Current relationship Beep Listener
- 11. New relationship Beep Listener Environment Including other things asking for attention
- 12. Antibeeps Calm streets Alert people Respectful machines