DESIGNING ENVIRONMENTAL SOUNDS BASED ON THE RESULTS OF INTERACTION BETWEEN                       
OBJECTS IN THE REAL WORLD                


A. DARVISHI, E. MUNTEANU, V. GUGGIANA, H. SCHAUER
Department of Computer Science (IfI),University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, CH-8057
Zurich, Switzerland,
tel. +41-(1)-632 7098, e-mail: darvishi@ifi.unizh.ch
M. MOTAVALLI   
Swiss Federal Labs for Material Testing and Research (EMPA),Uberlandstr. 129, CH-8600
Dubendorf, Switzerland
M. RAUTERBERG    
Usability Laboratory, Work and Organizational Psychology Unit
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Nelkenstr. 11, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland




ABSTRACT 
This paper presents an object oriented layered software architecture for describing
and designing environmental (everyday) sounds in user interfaces based on a new sound model
(audio framework). This new architecture is defined by different layers including the physical
layer, system sound software layer, sound analyser/synthesiser layer and the interface layer. The
sound model described can be used as the basic design of environmental sounds in user
interfaces. This paper describes the different components: physical modelling, interaction,
context sensitivity, and metaphorical description. In the paper the term audio framework is
ultimately used for the sound model presented. This paper first provides an overview of existing
approaches for modelling environmental sounds, then presents the new audio framework, a
comparison between real and model generated sounds and finally discusses potential
applications.                                        




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