Earcons Versus Auditory Icons in Communicating Computing Events: Learning and User Preference

This article investigates the effectiveness and user preferences of auditory icons and earcons in communicating various computing events. A controlled data collection exercise revealed that participants more quickly learned the relationships between computing events and auditory icons than the relationships between the same computing events and earcons. Results from a second data collection exercise showed that participants not only preferred to hear earcons rather than auditory icons, but indicated that auditory icons would be more irritating after repeated hearings. Taken together, these results present an interesting conundrum for systems designers: The more effective mode of communication is less preferred by users.