Attenson Pattern

Not a misspelling of "Attention", an attenson is an "attention-getting sound".

Context:

You are designing a system which must be able to direct the user’s attention to intermittent or rarely experienced information while they are involved in some other activity. The information usually would pertain to some type of event or warning that is important and/or urgent.

Problem:

The system must be able to attract the listener's attention and must be sufficiently clear and unambiguous in their representation of the importance/urgency.

Forces:

• The user’s attention might be hard to detract.
• There may be little or no chance to learn the sounds.
• There must be some 'reference' or 'zero' condition for conveying urgency or importance.

Solution:

Use an attention-getting sound (Attenson).

Ensure that the sound is sufficiently distinct from the user’s acoustic environment. It should be louder than other sounds, have a broad frequency range and have unique temporal characteristics such that it does not blend in. It should have a shaped onset envelope in order to avoid startle.

Ensure that the sound properly conveys the necessary degree of importance and/or urgency. Manipulate the sounds by applying the appropriate increasing or decreasing amounts of: modulation, sustained length, vibrato, high/low freq filtering, and/or reverberation.

Rationale:

Sound does not require your continual focus in order to gain your attention. A few levels of urgency and importance can usually be perceived by manipulating the various parameters of the sound. In some instances, this can be achieved with little or no prior learning. Also, sounds that are too quiet, or to similar to environmental sounds will blend in and be less effective. In Patterson’s set of Attenson design guidelines [see examples below], he presents a detailed rationale. Hellier and Edworthy [see examples below] describe some further experimental evidence.

For Example:

• Avanzini, F., Rocchesso, D., Belussi, A., Dal Palù, A. and Dovier, A. “Acqua Alta A Venezia: Design Of A Urban Scale Auditory Warning System”, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Auditory Display ICAD 2003, Boston, July 6-9, 2003.
  • [Paper: http://www.icad.org/websiteV2.0/Conferences/ICAD2003/paper/45%20Avanzini.pdf]

• Begault, D., Anderson, M. and McClain, B. “Spatially-Modulated Auditory Alerts”, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Auditory Display ICAD 2003, Boston, July 6-9, 2003.
  • [Paper: http://www.icad.org/websiteV2.0/Conferences/ICAD2003/paper/48%20Begault.pdf]

• Susini, P., Gaudibert, P., Deruty, E. and Dandrel, L. “Perceptive Study and Recommendation for Sonification Categories”, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Auditory Display ICAD 2003, Boston, July 6-9, 2003.
  • [Paper: http://www.icad.org/websiteV2.0/Conferences/ICAD2003/paper/71%20Susini.pdf]

• Häkkilä, J. and Ronkainen, S. “Dynamic Auditory Cues for Event Importance Level”, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Auditory Display ICAD 2003, Boston, July 6-9, 2003.
  • [Paper: http://www.icad.org/websiteV2.0/Conferences/ICAD2003/paper/57%20Hakkila.pdf]

• Patterson, R. “Guidelines for Auditory Warning Systems on Civil Aircraft”, CAA Paper 82017, London Civil Aviation Authority, 1982.

• Hellier, E. and Edworthy, J. “The Design and Validation of Attensons for a High Workload Environment”, in Human Factors in Auditory Warnings, Ed. Stanton, N. and Edworthy, J., Asghate, Aldershot, 1999.
  • [book: https://www.ashgate.com/shopping/title.asp?key1=&key2=&orig=results&isbn=0%20291%2039849%209]

---

This and a few other new pages (SystemMonitoring, SituationalAwareness, etc.) have very similar content. I suggest merging them into one page (RefactorByMerging), or differentiating them more clearly.