Data Set Selection for a Constrained Simple Sonification

Previous work on the production and test of various sonifications has shown that adding a sonification to an interface can assist the execution of a variety of operator tasks [1,2,3]. However, it has also shown that in some cases sonifications can have little benefit and may reduce performance in some areas [4]. This implies that choosing the information to encode and the type of sonification to employ are important steps when seeking to produce a successful application [4]. Within this paper one approach to the problem of data selection for sonification is described and the results presented. The objective of the work is to produce a new audio interface for short range air-to-air missiles. Features of this task are a small specialist user group and a constrained choice of sonification schemes. Structured interviews were used to produce repertory grids based on the sounds heard and information required in current and ideal cases. This was followed up with a broader survey of system users. The results showed that the views of designers and users are often fundamentally different and that care is required to achieve a satisfactory result.