Earcon
An earcon is a short, distinctive sound that is used to symbolize a certain event or to convey other information. Earcons are used in the operating systems and programs of computers and can range from an error indicating beeps to variable sound sequences, which, for example, as in Windows 7, indicate that the computer is starting up and shutting down as well as other events.
The name Earcon is an allusion to the well-known term icon from the field of computer user interfaces. The English term icon sounds in the English language like "eye-con" (eye - English for eye). It is the visual counterpart to the acoustic earcon ( ear - English for "ear"), which DA Sumikawa inspired them, the auditory equivalent in the 1985 article published Guidelines for the integration of audio cues into computer user interfaces to give his name.
Although the term is commonly used to refer to an auditory cue in a computer interface, examples of the concept can be found such as:
The concept of the earcon, which is usually related to computer interfaces, can also be found, for example, in transmittable media such as television and radio:
- the alarm signal, which signals a message from the emergency transmission system, or
- the unmistakable three-tone melody of the American broadcaster NBC in television broadcasts and radio.
Generally speaking, earcons are artificial sounds or tone patterns. The similar term Audicon (auditory icon) describes recorded everyday sounds that are used for a similar purpose.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Paul Thurrott: Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows: Windows 7 Build 7048 Notes . Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows. March 8, 2009. Archived from the original on April 13, 2009. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
- ↑ DA Sumikawa: Guidelines for the integration of audio cues into computer user interfaces . 1985. Retrieved March 28, 2011.
