Be Brief: Emotional Technology

person sitting at a computer with large speakers on either side wearing a shirt that says Art Design Science Research
person sitting at a computer with large speakers on either side wearing a shirt that says Art Design Science Research
Students and Faculty collaborated on their visions for the future of auditory displays at the 2018 ICAD Conference.
×

Technology shouldn’t be frustrating—it should be comfortable. Yet how often does tech leave us frustrated and unhelped? What is happening when we can’t get what we need from our devices?

Since Rosalind Picard published Affective Computing in 1997, emotional design as an aspect of tech development has grown into a field ripe for innovation. Emotional connections arise not just from visual interactions, but from interactions in all human senses, including sound. At the International Conference for Auditory Display in June 2018, researchers came together to discuss their vision for the use of sound in new tech.

Sound as an integral part of design is nothing new. Today’s researchers aim to take sonic design further by changing how we traditionally navigate tech. Menu interfaces are often visual, but certain situations, like driving, require us to keep our eyes elsewhere. Menus that combine elements of auditory displays and gesture controls, can help us maintain focus on the road while navigating through menu options to get to our music or hands-free phone calls. The goal is to create interfaces that are intuitive and, above all, comfortable.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.

Comments