6: Sound

6.3 Using sound effects to good effect

Sound effects can communicate information in a variety of ways. In particular, they can do the following.

• Reinforce the visual component of the UI. Thus turning a page on the screen could be accompanied by an appropriate sound. This could be taken even further in a children's program about animals, which could include sounds of lions roaring and elephants trumpeting.
• Confirm the successful completion of an operation. For example, when my mobile telephone succeeds in connecting to the network, it beeps.
• Attract attention. For example, a warning sound might be used to draw the user's attention to an error message displayed on the screen.

As these examples suggest, sound effects usually reinforce other types of output.