System Monitoring

Context:

You are designing an auditory display to allow a user to monitor the activity of a potentially dynamic system.

Problem:

You need to allow the user to perform other tasks and still be continuously and sufficiently aware of the state of the system.

Forces:

• It is likely that the user's primary attention will be on other tasks.
• Whenever a change occurs, the user will need to know what part of the system has altered state, and by how much.

Solution:

Sonify various processes within the system. Systems that are working perfectly/desirably should exhibit familiar, non-annoying sounds. To indicate undesirable status of processes, one might use lower tones, dissonance, out-of-time rhythm, minor scales, etc.

Rationale:

People can listen to a sonification while performing other tasks. It is usually possible to detect minor changes in frequency, dissonance, rhythm, musical key, etc.

For Example:

• Hermann, T., Niehus, C. and Ritter, H. 'Interactive Visualization and Sonification for monitoring Complex Processes', 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/60%20Hermann2-%20complex.pdf]
  • [Examples: http://www.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/ags/ni/projects/datamining/datason/demo/ICAD2003/AVDisplay.html]

• Kazem, M., Noyes, J. and Lieven, N. 'Design Considerations for a Background Auditory Display to Aid Pilot Situation Awareness.', 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/22%20Kazem.pdf]

• Malandrino, D., Mea, D., Negro, A.,Palmieri, G. and Scarano, V. 'NeMoS: Network Monitoring with Sound', 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/61%20Malandrino.pdf]

---

Interesting. I've been toying with the idea of making a server room sound like an aviary for several years now. -- JohnDuncan

---

See also UseSound, BeepInterface, BeepSpeek, SituationalAwareness, [http://www.transferpod.com iPod Transfer to Computer]

---

CategorySound