Beyond Ambient Experience: An Auditory Display Design Framework for Ubiquitous Computing Environments

Candidate: Milena Droumeva
Type: Master of Arts (MA), School of Interactive Arts and Technology
Date: July 30, 2007
Senior Supervisor: Dr. Ron Wakkary, Associate Professor
Thesis: Download Thesis Document

Abstract

fSound is increasingly considered in designing technologies. While ubiquitous computing environments are becoming commonplace, sound displays for them often lack consideration for their contextual, embodied nature and are not systematically examined as a form of meaningful feedback. This work aims to bring light to this gap and offer two existing frameworks for sound design that contribute to building a new framework specifically addressing auditory display design in ubiquitous computing. This research demonstrates how modified design methods could be used to query different research questions relating specifically to sound feedback, in a contextual, embodied and ecological fashion. As a main contribution, it presents a theoretical discussion, a design prototype example and a set of experimental studies, all contributing to building knowledge about sound in ubiquitous computing.