Auditory product design
Spence C.
Researchers at the Crossmodal Laboratory in Oxford have been developing a new experimental technique, based on a robust psychophysical paradigm adopted from cognitive psychology, which allows to evaluate the effect of changing the sound made by a particular product on people's product perception. The technique also enables the evaluation of a range of novel product sounds without having to generate products for testing that have the desired auditory profiles, so potentially speeding up the product development and innovation process. One trend that is emerging in a number of areas where product sound design is popular, is the move away from the evaluation and subsequent re-engineering of prototypes with a particular sound to the increased use of simulation tools and techniques, and the greater use of synthesized product sounds in the product sound design cycle. In future, research in cognitive neuroscience can be translated into the formulation of design principles that will enable industrial designers to stimulate the senses of their target customers more effectively.