The Impact of Notification Modality and Ambient Sound on Users’ Mobile Interaction

Abstract

This study investigated the impacts of different notification modalities used in low and high ambient sound environments for mobile phone interaction. Three different notification modalities—Shaking Visual, Shaking Visual + Vibration, and Vibration—were designed and experimentally tested by asking users to conduct a maze task. A total of 72 participants were invited to take part in the experiment through the convenience sampling method. The generated results indicated that (1) the notification modality affects participants’ task completion time, (2) the error rate pertinent to the number of notifications is positively related to the participants’ task completion time, and (3) the ambient sound level and notification modalities impact the overall experience of the participants. The main contributions of this study are twofold. First, it verifies that the multi-dimensional feature of a Shaking Visual + Vibration synesthesia notification design is implementable. Second, this study demonstrated that the synesthesia notification could be feasible for mobile notification, and it was more perceptible by the users.