Relation between perceived urgency of UX sounds and affective rating
- This thesis investigates the relationship between the perceived urgency of UX warning sounds and their affective evaluation in terms of annoyance, valence, and arousal. Building on previous work by Kullukcu et al. (2024), 24 warning sounds were reconstructed following a factorial design that systematically combined waveform type, harmonic enrichment, and amplitude modulation. In addition, 15 further stimuli were created by varying the interburst time (IBT) of selected sounds, in line with the recommendations of DIN EN ISO 24500. Thirty-two participants with normal hearing evaluated all 39 sounds using standardized rating scales and a valence-arousal grid. The results confirmed that waveform type was the primary determinant of perceptual outcomes: sawtooth-based sounds were rated most urgent and annoying with highly negative valence and high arousal, while sine-based sounds remained closest to neutral. Harmonic enrichment and amplitude modulation consistently increased urgency and annoyance, although the magnitude of these effectsThis thesis investigates the relationship between the perceived urgency of UX warning sounds and their affective evaluation in terms of annoyance, valence, and arousal. Building on previous work by Kullukcu et al. (2024), 24 warning sounds were reconstructed following a factorial design that systematically combined waveform type, harmonic enrichment, and amplitude modulation. In addition, 15 further stimuli were created by varying the interburst time (IBT) of selected sounds, in line with the recommendations of DIN EN ISO 24500. Thirty-two participants with normal hearing evaluated all 39 sounds using standardized rating scales and a valence-arousal grid. The results confirmed that waveform type was the primary determinant of perceptual outcomes: sawtooth-based sounds were rated most urgent and annoying with highly negative valence and high arousal, while sine-based sounds remained closest to neutral. Harmonic enrichment and amplitude modulation consistently increased urgency and annoyance, although the magnitude of these effects differed across waveform families. Temporal spacing was shown to be a powerful modulator: short IBTs intensified both urgency and annoyance, whereas longer IBTs reduced arousal and occasionally shifted valence into a more positive range. The findings highlight the trade-off between salience and user acceptance in auditory warning design and underline the importance of temporal parameters alongside spectral features. These insights provide an empirically grounded framework for designing warning sounds that comply with psychoacoustic principles and standards while balancing effectiveness with perceptual comfort.…

