Toward Supporting End-User Design of Soundscape Sonifications

In this paper, we explore the potential for everyday Twitter users to design and use soundscape sonifications as an alternative, “calm” modality for staying informed of Twitter activity. We first present the results of a survey assessing how 100 Twitter users currently use and change audio notifications. We then present a study in which 9 frequent Twitter users employed two user interfaces—with varying degrees of automation—to design, customize, and use soundscape sonifications of Twitter data. This work suggests that soundscapes have great potential for creating a calm technology for maintaining awareness of Twitter data, and that soundscapes can be useful in helping people without prior experience in sound design think about sound in sophisticated ways and engage meaningfully in sonification design.