1. Un-muting Design
Amar Chadgar

2. Quick sound check
Can you hear the sound that’s playing?

3. Disclaimer!
I’m not a Sound Designer - neither do I have formal training in Sound Design.

4. This is part ONE of many
There’s so much more to talk about.

5. Primary purpose
A few short stories about popular sounds that might inspire us
to think about sound when we design.

6. Context: United States
While most sound is universal, some may be highly contextual.

7. Amar Chadgar
Interaction Designer @ frog design

8. 0. The Background

9. Sound is descriptive, not prescriptive
It doesn’t always tell you what something is as much as it
communicates it’s emotion or intent

10. Sound affects us on a
subconscious level
And it’s everywhere.

11. It can make us happy
:)

12. It can signify success
:O

13. It can signify failure
:/

14. It can notify us
8D

15. It can scare us
X|

16. It can transport us
B)

18. 1. The Observation

19. Most of what we have been designing
has been devoid of sound
It’s all on mute.

20. Our designs have shape, color,
motion, behavior
But no sound.

21. Not because we don’t care about
sound but we take it for granted.
Just think about the sounds around you.

27. These are all intentional
Each of these sounds had thought put behind them. Each of these sounds
serve a purpose.

28. 2. The Idea

29. Let’s think about sound
Our work could greatly benefit if we started considering sound as a
definable in our scope.

30. COLOR
TYPE
BEHAVIOR
LAYOUT
…
SHAPE SOUND……

31. Why is now a good time?
The emergence of devices with built-in audio delivery like smartphones,
smart speakers, virtual assistants, etc. expands the opportunities for
using sound as a medium communicate and interact.

32. Why us?
Most product/service companies serious about their design have sound
designers on board. It’s up to us as Designers & Technologists to describe
how are designs are consumed and interacted with, in the sonic medium.

33. Before we jump in
We should first explore where we can use sound in our discipline

34. 3. Six Areas of Impact

35. Things I’m not here to talk about
Music in games
Soundtracks
Foley
General music

36. _ Sound for Feedback
_ Sound for Attention
_ Sound for Identity
_ Sound for Personality
_ Sound for Accessibility
_ Sound for Engagement

37. _ Sound for Feedback
_ Sound for Attention
_ Sound for Identity
_ Sound for Personality

38. Feedback
Using sound to provide confirmation of an action taken by the user.

39. Interacting with phone systems

40. Bell System 1920s
Moving from switchboard operators to an automated system. How do
you tell the user that the line was active when the receiver was off hook?

41. The Dial-Tone Language
Bell adopts the concept of a dial tone set up by an engineer named
August Kruckow in Hildesheim in 1908

42. DIAL TONE BETWEEN 350 HZ AND 440 HZ
DIALED NUMBER
RINGING TONE BETWEEN 440 HZ AND 480 HZ
BUSY TONE
PHONE OFF HOOK TONE

43. DIAL TONE BETWEEN 350 HZ AND 440 HZ
DIALED NUMBER
RINGING TONE BETWEEN 440 HZ AND 480 HZ
BUSY TONE
PHONE OFF HOOK TONE

44. DIAL TONE BETWEEN 350 HZ AND 440 HZ
DIALED NUMBER
RINGING TONE BETWEEN 440 HZ AND 480 HZ
BUSY TONE
PHONE OFF HOOK TONE

45. DIAL TONE BETWEEN 350 HZ AND 440 HZ
DIALED NUMBER
RINGING TONE BETWEEN 440 HZ AND 480 HZ
BUSY TONE
PHONE OFF HOOK TONE

46. Feedback in digital products
While we don’t need these sounds anymore, need for feedback has
only increased in digital products when you’re interacting with a
piece of glass.

47. Feedback in digital products
from typing on your smartphone

48. Feedback in digital products
to sending messages into the air

49. Feedback in digital products
and receiving confirmation

50. Choosing sounds

51. ANALOG ABSTRACTMETAPHOR

52. ANALOG ABSTRACTMETAPHOR

53. ANALOG ABSTRACTMETAPHOR

55. _ Sound for Feedback
_ Sound for Attention
_ Sound for Identity
_ Sound for Personality
_ Sound for Accessibility

56. Attention
Using sound to notify an action or communicate an information

57. The Marimba Ringtone

58. iPhone 2007
Steve jobs was tired of the monophonic Nokia ringtone and wanted
something different. The team settled on 25 packs of ringtones.
Default: Marimba

59. Bell Labs (again…) 1950s
Human Factors Research Lab conducted research on ringers to find the
best sounds needed to alert users of incoming calls.

60. LOUDEST
DYNAMICRANGE=96DB
QUIETEST
3-5 SECONDS

61. The Bell Ring Tone
Abandoning their pursuit for a new ringtone, they decide to keep the
default ringtone.

62. LOUDEST
DYNAMICRANGE=96DB
QUIETEST
3-5 SECONDS

63. LOUDEST
DYNAMICRANGE=96DB
QUIETEST
3-5 SECONDS

64. The Marimba
Apple sound designer Dr. Gerhard Lengeling used a garage band
instrument to create a melody of warm but attention demanding sounds.

65. LOUDEST
DYNAMICRANGE=96DB
QUIETEST
3-5 SECONDS

66. LOUDEST
DYNAMICRANGE=96DB
QUIETEST
3-5 SECONDS

67. Sound Languages

68. Subtle but present
It’s important to setup a sound design language similar to a visual design
language. A cohesive system of sounds that go together well.

69. Listen
What does this sound mean?

70. Facebook Messenger
The team that designed the sounds behind Facebook’s Messenger
app worked to create a sound system for their notification system.

71. Facebook Messenger
The sound covers everything from notifications…

72. Facebook Messenger
… to in app notification of other party typing…

73. Facebook Messenger
… and confirmation of sent messages

74. Emergency broadcast systems

75. Critical alert systems
Sometimes getting your attention is more more critical that being notified
of a match on Tinder.

76. The Two Tone Attention Signal
In 1963 The Emergency Broadcast System was setup to alert the masses
in terms for emergencies. They wanted to create a distinct signal that
could be use to alert in times for an emergency.
They developed the two tone attention signal.

77. 853 HERTZ
960 HERTZ
COMBINATION

78. Utility

79. U
N
N
EC
ESSARY
IM
PERATIVE
EN
RIC
H
IN
G
BEN
EFIC
IAL
PERK
THE SPECTRUM OF UTILITY

80. U
N
N
EC
ESSARY
IM
PERATIVE
EN
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H
IN
G
BEN
EFIC
IAL
PERK
THE SPECTRUM OF UTILITY

81. U
N
N
EC
ESSARY
IM
PERATIVE
EN
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H
IN
G
BEN
EFIC
IAL
PERK
THE SPECTRUM OF UTILITY

82. U
N
N
EC
ESSARY
IM
PERATIVE
EN
RIC
H
IN
G
BEN
EFIC
IAL
PERK
THE SPECTRUM OF UTILITY

83. U
N
N
EC
ESSARY
IM
PERATIVE
EN
RIC
H
IN
G
BEN
EFIC
IAL
PERK
THE SPECTRUM OF UTILITY

84. U
N
N
EC
ESSARY
IM
PERATIVE
EN
RIC
H
IN
G
BEN
EFIC
IAL
PERK
THE SPECTRUM OF UTILITY

86. _ Sound for Feedback
_ Sound for Attention
_ Sound for Identity
_ Sound for Personality
_ Sound for Accessibility
_ Sound for Engagement

87. Identity
Using sound to create identifiable products/services/systems

88. Sonic Brand

89. Earliest examples of a sonic brand. A sound or musical phrase used in
broadcast to help tune to a station & identify a station or programming.
Interval Signals

90. The NBC Chime - 1920
NBC starting using this to identify itself on air with a G-E-C signal.
This sound became so iconic of that brand that it was awarded a difficult-
to-get audio trademark.

91. Try to keep score. I’m about to make this whole section easier for myself.
Let’s play a quick game

92. Listen closely
Sound 1

93. Listen closely
Sound 2

94. Listen closely
Sound 3

95. Listen closely
Sound 4

96. Listen closely
Sound 5

97. Listen closely
Sound 6

98. Listen closely
Sound 7

99. Listen closely
Sound 8

100. Listen closely
Sound 9

101. Listen closely
Sound 10

102. Chances are more than half of them.
How many did you get?

103. These sounds help recognize a brand even when there are no visuals.
Some are even functional sounds that notify you about an action or
provide information
Nothing more needs to be said

105. _ Sound for Feedback
_ Sound for Attention
_ Sound for Identity
_ Sound for Personality
_ Sound for Accessibility
_ Sound for Engagement

106. Personality
Using sound to create a more relatable & personable experience

107. Virtual Assistants

108. From human-like to invisible
Virtual Assistants are digital systems that perform tasks for us.
We’ve come a long way from depicting our virtual assistants as
extremely anthropomorphic robots to faceless omniscients.
They listen to us, do what we request them to - but always with
their own personality.

109. Meet Eugene Goostman
A chatbot that convinced 33% of the judges at a turing test competition
that it was human.

110. Not just intelligence
The key to this success wasn’t the ability to have an answer to everything
that was asked of him (?)

111. It’s the personality
The chatbot pretended to be 13 year old Ukrainian boy who did not speak
english well. Testers forgive minor grammatical errors in his responses.

112. It’s the right kind of personality
While good personalities are liked by people, bad ones can annoy them.

113. Now meet Clippy
The Microsoft Office assistant was almost universally hated by most
users.

114. Too human
Recent study done by Journal of Consumer Research showed that the
disdain comes from digital assistants that seem too human, we start
hating them just like we hate human strangers who try to help us and
undermine our autonomy when they provide assistance.

116. The sound of a car

117. Ask any Motor Head
The sound of a car engine used to signify the the raw power and speed
the car is capable of. The most attractive aspects of a car.
The sound defines the personality of the car.

118. More efficient and quieter
This coupled with great noise isolation within the cabin reduces drastically,
the engine sound that is heard by the driver. Drivers want all the force and
fuel savings of a newer, better engine — but the classic sound of an old
gas-guzzler.

119. Solution?
Amplify the sounds through pipes or replicate engine sounds by playing
them through speakers in the car.

120. Electric Cars
Federal safety officials have rules requiring all hybrid and electric cars to
play fake engine sounds to alert passersby, a change that experts
estimate could prevent thousands of pedestrian and cyclist injuries.

121. The fine balance of personality

122. THE BALANCE OF PERSONALITY

123. FACELESS - EMOTIONLESS - UNRELATABLE

124. ANNOYING - PATRONIZING - OVERBEARING

126. _ Sound for Attention
_ Sound for Identity
_ Sound for Personality
_ Sound for Accessibility
_ Sound for Engagement

127. Accesibility
Using sound to make the visual world more accessible

128. Accessible Pedestrian Signals

129. Making interactions safer
An integrated device that communicates information about the WALK and
DON'T WALK intervals at signalized intersections in non-visual formats to
pedestrians who are blind or have low vision.

130. 1.
The existence of and location
of the pushbutton
2.
The beginning of the walk interval,
interaction, direction of the crosswalk
and location of the destination.

131. Four types
Pedhead-mounted, Pushbutton-integrated, Receiver-based,
and Vibrotactile-only

132. Audio Descriptions

133. Secondary tracks with narration
An additional narration track intended primarily for blind and visually
impaired consumers of visual media. A narrator talks through the content
describing events on the screen during the natural pauses in the audio.

134. Solution without a standard
For a long time different implementations & solutions existed
without a standard.

135. Brief History
1974 - a graduate student at San Francisco State University
developed underlying audio description concepts.

136. Theater, museums, & broadcast
Through the 80s Metropolitan Washington Ear worked with
theaters, museums, and television stations to provide audio
track for performances & shows.

137. Setting standards
Early 2009, the American Council of the Blind established
Audio Description Project (ADP) to boost levels of description
activity and disseminate information on that work throughout
the United States and worldwide

138. On digital content
With he ability to provide multiple audio tracks,
streaming services have been include several movies
with audio descriptions.

140. _ Sound for Identity
_ Sound for Personality
_ Sound for Accessibility
_ Sound for Engagement

141. Engagement
Using sound to create immersive experiences

142. Music on Hold

143. Keeping busy during wait
Music on hold is the music you hear when waiting for service or placed
on hold.

144. Invented on accident
In 1962, Alfred Levy, discovered one of the telephone wires loose and
touching the girded of the building amplifying radio signals and playing
music on the phone systems when on hold.

145. You may hate it but it works
70 percent of callers who are on hold in silence hang up within 60
seconds; of them, 35 percent won't call back. Callers who had
information to listen to remained on hold up to three minutes longer.

146. Background music in retail stores

147. When was the last time you noticed
music playing in a retail store?
Last Christmas?

148. Muzak
In 1934 inventor Major General George Owen Squier, started delivery
music to commercial centers under the name Muzak.

149. Competitions & a growing market
By the 60s several companies had emerged and began delivering
tailored music to stores & businesses.

150. Research & contradictions
There have been tons of studies done in determining effects of tempo &
mood of music affecting sales with contradicting results across studies.

151. Faithful to the brand
While contradictions exist in what type of music drives business, playing
music appropriate to the store’s brand has a deep impact.

153. 4. Addendum

154. Not my job / Lack of skills

155. But I’m not a Sound Designer!
That’s OK. You aren’t a developer, manufacturer, or a contractor either but
you still design screens, products, and structures

156. IDEA PROTOTYPE EXECUTION
What sound best
describes this
instance?
What are the best
approaches to
achieving this sound?
What is the
manifestation of this
sound?

157. IDEA PROTOTYPE EXECUTION
What sound best
describes this
instance?
What are the best
approaches to
achieving this sound?
What is the
manifestation of this
sound?

158. Sound can be annoying
If used unnecessarily

159. Hard to get a buy-in
Hard to describe in frameworks or hard to find the right process

160. Hope that sounds good!
:)

161. soundsof.earth
Help me collect sounds by sending me 30 second
clips of your surrounding to submit@soundsof.earth

162. @amarchadgar