Affective Quality of Audio Feedback on Mobile Devices in Different Contexts

Abstract

Sound is a common means to give feedback on mobile devices. Much research has been conducted to examine the learnability and user performance with systems that provide audio feedback. In many cases a training period is necessary to understand the meaning of a specific feedback, because their functional connotation may be ambiguous. Additionally, no standardized evaluation method to measure the subjective quality of these messages has been established; especially regarding the affective quality of feedback sounds. The authors describe a series of experiments to investigate the affective impression of audio feedback on mobile devices as well as their functional meaning under varying contexts prototypical for mobile phone usage. Results indicate that context influences the emotional impression and that there is a relation between affective quality and functional appropriateness. These findings confirm that emotional stimuli are suitable as feedback messages in the context of mobile HCI and that context matters for the affective quality of sounds emitted by mobile phones.