Using audio vocals in iOS app tutorials in onboarding

Question

I'm working on designing an onboarding tutorial for a audio based app.

I've come up with a carousel with visuals and text to better describe what the app is, and give quick insight on top actionable items within the app.

The client has suggested audio (professional vocals) to go along with the carousel, visuals and text.

I personally, have never seen/heard vocal audio on onboarding for an iOS app.

I'd love to get some opinion on whether that would enhance the experience, decrease it? Anyone know of any technical ramifications of doing something like that? (slowing app) Any real world examples out there?

Answer 1

Despite the audio nature of your app's content, it is still unconventional to have audio in a tutorial. Users will very likely be surprised when the unexpected audio starts playing and will most certainly hurt the experience. Generally, audio in this format is not seen, because video is used instead.

If the client absolutely insists on including this feature, I suggest using the approach many automatic videos use where the audio is silenced by default. Users can see the video playing or will notice the traditional audio icons animating and can opt into the audio if they want. However, by default it should absolutely by silent (which begs the question: why bother?).

Most articles warn designers to not auto-play audio on websites, but here are a few that show how a subtle approach might work (still not recommended though):

http://econsultancy.com/blog/62937-10-hotel-websites-that-autoplay-sound-to-delight-visitors

http://soundsoftheinternet.com/