ABSTRACT
Auditory feedback can probably help to reduce eye strain. New scope for the interactive representation of complex sound- generating events and processes is possible, especially in multi-media interfaces. This chapter investigates the effects of auditory feedback for a situation where the sound is given additionally to the visual feedback. It examines the effects of auditory feedback of hidden events which were produced by a continuous process in the background. The actual breakdown event shows the operator how to repair the machine. The operator can get this information visually in a modal dialog box with the status report at the control station or in an audible form through auditory alarm feedback. Auditory feedback has poor ‘referability’, meaning that sounds usually cannot be kept continuously before the operator, although they can be repeated periodically. Normal running of a machine was coupled with a characteristic sound pattern. Each machine breakdown generated a specific alert tone, the auditory alarm, instead of the normal sound.
