Keywords: Earcons

Earcons [1] are abstract, synthetic tones that can be used in structured combinations to create sound messages to represent parts of an interface. They have been used to sonify several interfaces and shown to be effective at communicating complex information in sound (see Brewster [2] for a review). After two initial experiments we published a brief set of guidelines for the creation of earcons [5]. Since then we have conducted four more experiments in which have used earcons. One experiment tested parallel earcons (where two earcons were played at the same time) [6] and the other three used earcons to correct usability errors with graphical widgets [2, 3, 4]. From these we have gained further insights into designing with earcons. This page gives an updated set of guidelines based on these experiments. We will update it as we gain more experience.

CONCLUSIONS
This new set of guidelines improves those in Brewster, Wright & Edwards [5]. These updated guidelines are based on further experiments we have conducted. Using them an interface designer can create a set of usable earcons for his/her multimodal interface. The earcons will communicate their messages effectively and be easily recognisable and distinguishable by listeners.