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Communication Acoustics pp 193–221Cite as

Assigning Meaning to Sounds — Semiotics in the Context of Product-Sound Design

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Summary

Sound design constructs audibility of the world. Sounds carry information about the world. When listening to sounds, communication takes place. These are well-known facts for speech sounds, but it is also true for other types of sounds such as music or product sounds. In principle, each acoustic event can be perceived as a sign carrier through which information about the world is communicated. In its ultimate sense, sound designers are engineers of communication. To be successful, they have to take design decisions on the basis of how listeners perceive sounds and of what kind of communication takes place during this event. Suitable sound design requires a special view on acoustic/auditory communication. Among other sciences, semiotics deals with this field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Architecture, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

    Ute Jekosch

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  1. Ute Jekosch
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Communication Acoustics, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany

    Jens Blauert

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Jekosch, U. (2005). Assigning Meaning to Sounds — Semiotics in the Context of Product-Sound Design. In: Blauert, J. (eds) Communication Acoustics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27437-5_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27437-5_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-22162-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-27437-7

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