[IxDA Discuss] Audio feedback in HTML-based web applications

[John Schrag]

-----Original Message-----
From:Sean Voisen
I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts/ideas/research on audible
feedback in modern web applications.
--------------------------

Hi, Sean.  No deep insight from me, but something to think about:
A few years ago (with a previous employer) I was designing some learning
materials for an app that made use of sound (a spoken sound track, in
this case).  We did a contextual inquiry at one of our customer sites --
a site with thousands of machines --- and discovered that none of the
machines had sound cards or speakers.  It was against company policy,
because they didn't want their staff playing music or watching stuff
when they should be working.

In the end we still used the sound track, but we supplemented it with
close-captioning, always visible.

-john schrag
Interaction Designer
Autodesk
Toronto