Listen up! Phatic thresholds and sound interface design

Bibliographic Data

ID12656352
AuthorsHadar Levy-Landesberg (0000-0002-3966-7895, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume23
Issue10
Pages3084-3104
Publication date2020-07-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Media & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1461444820944851
OpenAlexW3043915140
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited45

This article points to the long-standing and significant role that the sound interface plays in shaping the ways we attend to media by considering its phatic function. Employing a reverse engineering approach, the article consists of an analysis of historical transformations in the regimen of attention produced by sound media to date, followed by discourse analyses of scientific and industry communities of digital sound interface design. Introducing the term “phatic alignment” to describe how media and humans are arranged in space and adjusted to communicate with one another, this article points to the increasing hold of the digital sound interface over the user’s attention and identifies the premises affording this trend. The article argues that in abstracting the human ear as an automated “phatic threshold” that regulates the user’s attention, digital sound interface design situates the user in constant attentiveness to media and sets the stage for next-generation communication technologies

Acoustics · Function (biology · Human–computer interaction · Interface (matter · Multimedia · Physics · Sound (geography · Term (time · User interface · Computer Science · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction · Media, Communication, and Education · Music Technology and Sound Studies

Tools

Open DOI