Sound design in UX

David and Andrew look at the role of sound in usability. From deliberately loud vacuum cleaners to the crunch of a Pringle, sound is an important but often forgotten aspect of user experience. Also, David almost gets punched, and Andrew bum-shuffles on a water slide like a dog with worms.

Other things we talk about:

• Alarms in hospitals
• Sound branding of Japanese train stations
• Unique sounds in technology
• Faked sounds in cars
• Jingles that are ear-worms
• Auto-playing music on websites
• David comments on the usability of a self-checkout and almost gets punched
• Andy bum-shuffles on a water slide

Links mentioned:

• The Fake Sounds Companies Add To Products - Cheddar Explains
• 99 percent invisible episode - Sound in hospitals
• 99 percent invisible episode - Sound in cities
• The meat website that used to have an amazing auto-playing jingle

The Unusable podcast is presented by Andrew Waite & David Ball, who discuss the importance of user experience (UX) in technology & the world around us, & talk about great design that just works - or moan about it when it doesn't. Here's the link to the episode: https://podcast.theunusable.com/podcasts/012-sound-design-ux.mp3 Music is by [Gold5472](https://gold5472.newgrounds.com/)