Tarantino Tarantino Rogers

I had a hard time getting this under 3 min with all the information required.

Hello everyone, my name is Tarantino Rogers and today is August 18, 2020. In today’s podcast, I will discuss auditory components, accessibility, and redundancy concepts. First, I’ll discuss the difference between auditory icons and earcons. Just like visual icons represent images that naturally correlate with what they represent, auditory icons are brief sounds that correlate with the object that creates the sound. For example, the sound of a door closing is played when a user leaves a chat room. Ear cons, like auditory icons, are also a brief sound. However, unlike auditory icons, they are not natural sounds and are distinct structured sounds that represent a specific event, convey information or feedback to the user. An example of this would be a swoosh sound when an email is sent or received. Audio can be useful when computing, for example, an alert earcon can be used to alert users of a system error. Sounds can also be used for alarms, games, and device functions such as alarms. It would be nice to wake up with a calming sound. The ideal alarm sound would be a gentle, gradual shift from deeper to lighter sleep, that would allow you to wake up to a natural stressful awakening. A good sound to wake up to in the morning would be ocean waves, birds singing, or smooth jazz.

A good reason why audio can be a useful tool for many people.  Is first off, audio is a very useful tool for people who are blind. The auditory sense is a big sense that individuals who are blind rely upon. This can be as simple as an auditory tone letting them know when it would be safe to cross the street or not. Audio is also a useful way to notify you that there is someone at your door using a doorbell. Phones and computers have also implemented audio into the push of buttons, successful action confirmations, failures, and even text to sound.

From my next segment, you already know how important sound is in today’s world. However, there are still times when the sound should not be used. For example, having a phone ring during a movie or while attending church is not usually a good time for the extra sound.

Speech is still a relatively new interface. Speech recognition is still very new so we simply cannot recognize and do everything. We as humans sometimes misunderstand or misinterpret what someone is saying. The most popular conception of a natural conversation with a computer is one in which the user can say anything they want, and the computer will understand and respond appropriately.  Apple has Siri as a personal assistant that you can seemingly say anything to. This, however, is far from reality. This a speech device that makes it seem as if users can say anything when that’s not the case. Designers must develop ways to shape and constrain a user's interactions with this device. Users must understand how to communicate with this device in an understandable manner that doesn’t make them feel like they’re tailoring the way they speak to this device. Users must also be made aware of what the device can do to prevent them from making errors. A good example of this would be telling a device to give you the time. It could be asked about several different ways. “What time is it? What hour is it? Or How late is it? All these various should give you the same response. 

In my final segment, I will briefly mention some ethical issues that should be incorporated into any type of design. Accessibility, as mentioned earlier, is defined as assisting anyone with a disability or a complication. Voice over can be an example of helpful use of sounds. While closed captions on videos can be helpful for someone hard of hearing. It is important to have implemented accessibility into any designs especially with computers, to allow all users to have the ability to use and operate the machines without limitations.

Thanks for listening to my podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks and have a great day.