Edinburgh Napier University

  The process of designing and testing auditory displays often includes evaluations only by experts, and where non-experts are involved, training is commonly required. This paper presents a method of evaluating sound designs that does not require listener training, thus promoting more ecological practices in auditory display design. Complex sound designs can be broken down into discrete sound events, which can then be rated using a set of sound attributes that are meaningful to both designers and listeners. The two examples discussed in this paper include an auditory display for a commercial vehicle, and a set of sound effects for a video game. Both are tested using a repertory grid approach. The paper shows that the method can highlight similarities and differences between designer and user listening experiences thus informing design decisions and subsequently reception.