Sounds Like Home: Sonification and Physical Interaction in the Periphery and Center of the Attention

Our auditory perception skills enable us to selectively place one auditory channel in the center of our attention and simultaneously monitor others in the periphery of our attention. In this paper, we present and discuss two design cases that explore the design of physical interactive systems that leverage this perception skill to unobtrusively communicate relevant information. Sounds are mechanically generated by these systems, which strengthens the coupling between signification and physical interface. Both resulting designs are aimed to be used in a home environment