features that require sound, such as playing music, Voice calls or speech synthesis. Often implies certain accessibility hurdles when audio is vital to comprehension or navigation.
9
votes
2answers
222 views
Is there a standard for the frequencies and or duration used for beeps?
Is there a standard for the frequencies and or duration used for error or alert beeps?
When I hear a ding or bing sound, I sometimes find that the frequency of the tone is too high or low (in my ...
3
votes
6answers
234 views
Why do some webmasters INSIST on having auto-playing music elements on their webpages? [closed]
Is there any positive reason why someone might implement an auto-playing audio feature onto a webpage? I seem to see it all the time, especially on band pages and so on. The frustrating thing is ...
1
vote
2answers
105 views
Do users need 3 ways to change sound volume on their computer?
Virtually every video/audio software has volume controls. Why is software control needed if there exist two other controls: operating system and hardware volume controls?
Is it better to remove ...
22
votes
4answers
390 views
Should a mobile media app lower volume or pause?
When designing mobile media apps (specifically audio-only ones), what should they do when a notification comes in and phone volume is on?
I noticed two different behaviors on my phone - Spotify will ...
8
votes
1answer
100 views
How should I handle playing multiple alarms?
I have a web application that monitors a service (polls) every 30 seconds or so, and displays any new records (notifications). Each one of these must be acknowledged by an operator. The customer has ...
7
votes
2answers
143 views
Does it make sense to put a prompt for sound or mute before a game is started?
I am building a game that is very sound-centric, but at the same time I recognize how annoying it is to be bombarded by unwanted noise.
The problem with putting a mute/sound button in-game is that ...
2
votes
1answer
81 views
What is the use of a play icon with line next to it
We got a few general music player icons for playing and manipulating playlists.
> = play tune
>> = hold to move backwards in tune (or skip to next tune)
<< = hold to move forward in ...
4
votes
2answers
113 views
Difference in audio level for speaker and headphone?
On all the computers (running Windows) that I've used, it only requires 10% volume to get a "loud enough" level on my headphone, but if I use the speaker I usually set it to >50%.
On my smartphone ...
2
votes
2answers
84 views
UI for audio synced with text
I'm working on an outlining application that syncs items in the outline to recorded audio. The ideas is that you can play the audio from a specific place in your document, or get to an item from a ...
4
votes
2answers
160 views
Quantitative studies on autoplaying video?
Does anyone know of any quantitative studies that look at the effect of autoplaying videos on the user experience of a website (i.e. a page loads and—BOOM—a video + audio starts playing)? My UX senses ...
1
vote
1answer
144 views
Easy way to let every-day users embed images, videos, audio files, etc. inside text?
I need to let users embed videos, images, audio files, etc. inside text. For right now, these videos will come from urls, but they might one day point to videos/images/audio files stored on the server ...
50
votes
18answers
4k views
Should we use a sound/jingle when users arrive on our site or open our app?
What is your opinion on having a sound jingle when starting the website or the app?
Imagine hearing the brand name spelled out or sung out just once (5 seconds).
The intention would be:
evoking ...
7
votes
3answers
100 views
Is voice over to re-enforce text a good idea?
We have an e-learning module that has some nice video animations and graphics, but also some text.
It was been suggested that to "jazz" up the module, a voice over be used on the text pages to keep ...
34
votes
8answers
1k views
What would be a good way to thumbnail audio?
I want to represent an audio file in an image with a maximum size of 180×180 pixels.
I have been thinking about something similar to what Soundcloud does, although it will require some chopping and ...
3
votes
1answer
66 views
Is User Triggered Background Audio Acceptable?
We're designing a web presentation for a client, and the subject of including "white noise" background audio (crowds etc) after a video has finished to enrich the presentation and tie the different ...
2
votes
3answers
371 views
What is the best way to represent audio visually?
I've only taken some basic signal analysis courses, so I might be missing some things.
Purely theoretical question:
What methods exist for representing audio?
What methods could be made for ...
2
votes
1answer
68 views
Which term seems more appropriate to use for a user, “player” or device"
Working on a site that allows users to listen to audio through some sort of playback. Whether it is on their desktop (software) iPhone, iPad, touch (App) or special hardware, they can choose one of ...
9
votes
1answer
456 views
Guidelines on designing audio-only interfaces (eg for blind users)?
There are many resources out there that provide accessibility guidelines - hints on making content easy for a screen-reader to parse, or reminders about content that blind users cannot glean. That's ...
18
votes
5answers
2k views
Video and audio autoplay - evidence that it's bad practice
Does anyone have any evidence or could point me in the direction of a web page that explains why video and audio autoplay is bad practice. I know it is but i'm struggling to find anything to back this ...
0
votes
0answers
110 views
What kind of UX practices are well suited for Streaming of Audio/Video on Web Browsers? [closed]
What kind of methodology/recommended patterns are well suited for streaming of audio and video in web browsers?
9
votes
6answers
491 views
Snoozing an alarm: should the alarm grow progressively louder or softer?
Hypothetical design question: upon snoozing an alarm, should the alarm grow progressively louder or softer?
Case for louder: you’ve been snoozing too much; wake up now.
Case for softer: maybe you ...
3
votes
3answers
113 views
What are good reasons for and against using audio for feedback?
If a device like a printer has a keyboard for users to interact with it (keyboard as well as navigation), does it help users to hear audio every time they use the keyboard for text input? Remember ...
9
votes
4answers
465 views
Alternates to the “play/pause” button
I've never been happy with the old 'iTunes' model ("flip-flop" buttons; see this question) where the play and pause are the same button, with an icon showing what state you can go to (Play when you're ...
9
votes
3answers
426 views
What should the default volume of an in-line video player be?
Given that the volume shown in an in-line video player (e.g. Flash or Silverlight) is relative to the system volume (i.e. 100% volume in the player is 100% of the current system volume level), what ...
5
votes
7answers
481 views
How to choose a success and failure sound
I create a math game where the user has to solve an equation.
If the user is right, the application plays sound A. If he's wrong, it plays sound B.
What criteria should I use to choose sounds for A ...
