It was a pleasant June day in Munich, Germany. I was picked up at my hotel and driven to the country, farmland on either side of the narrow, two-lane road. Occasional walkers strode by, and every so often a bicyclist passed. We parked the car on the shoulder and joined a group of people looking up and down the road. “Okay, get ready,” I was told. “Close your eyes and listen.” I did so and about a minute later I heard a high-pitched whine, accompanied by a low humming sound: an automobile was approaching. As it came closer, I could hear tire noise. After the car had passed, I was asked my judgment of the sound. We repeated the exercise numerous times, and each time the sound was different. What was going on? We were evaluating sound designs for BMW’s new electric vehicles.
Electric cars are extremely quiet. The only sounds they make come from the tires, the air, and occasionally from the high-pitched whine of the electronics. Car lovers really like the silence. Pedestrians have mixed feelings, but blind people are greatly concerned. After all, they cross streets in traffic by relying upon the sounds of vehicles. That’s how they know when it is safe to cross. And what is true for the blind might also be true for anyone stepping onto the street while distracted. If the vehicles don’t make any sounds, they can kill. The United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determined that pedestrians are considerably more likely to be hit by hybrid or electric vehicles than by those with an internal-combustion engine. The greatest danger is when the hybrid or electric vehicles are moving slowly: they are almost completely silent.
Adding sound to a vehicle to warn pedestrians is not a new idea. For many years, commercial trucks and construction equipment have had to make beeping sounds when backing up. Horns are required by law, presumably so that drivers can use them to alert pedestrians and other drivers when the need arises, although they are often used as a way of venting anger and rage instead. But adding a continuous sound to a normal vehicle because it would otherwise be too quiet is a challenge.
What sound would you want? One group of blind people suggested putting some rocks into the hubcaps. I thought this was brilliant. The rocks would provide a natural set of cues, rich in meaning and easy to interpret. The car would be quiet until the wheels started to turn. Then the rocks would make natural, continuous scraping sounds at low speeds, change to the pitter-patter of falling stones at higher speeds. The frequency of the drops would increase with the speed of the car until the rocks ended up frozen against the circumference of the rim, silent. Which is fine: the sounds are not needed for fast-moving vehicles, because then the tire noise is audible. The lack of sound when the vehicle is not moving would be a problem, however.
The marketing divisions of automobile manufacturers thought the addition of artificial sounds would be a wonderful branding opportunity, so each car brand or model should have its own unique sound that captured just the car personality the brand wished to convey. Porsche added loudspeakers to its electric car prototype to give it the same throaty growl as its gasoline-powered cars. Nissan wondered whether a hybrid automobile should sound like tweeting birds. Some manufacturers thought all cars should sound the same, with standardized noises and sound levels, making it easier for everyone to learn how to interpret them. Some blind people thought they should sound like cars—you know, gasoline engines.
Skeuomorphic is the technical term for incorporating old, familiar ideas into new technologies, even though they no longer play a functional role. Skeuomorphic designs are often comfortable for traditionalists, and indeed the history of technology shows that new technologies and materials often slavishly imitate the old for no apparent reason except that it’s what people know how to do. Early automobiles looked like horse-driven carriages without the horses (which is also why they were called horseless carriages); early plastics were designed to look like wood; folders in computer file systems often look like paper folders, complete with tabs. One way of overcoming the fear of the new is to make it look like the old. This practice is decried by design purists, but in fact, it has its benefits in easing the transition from the old to the new. It gives comfort and makes learning easier. Existing conceptual models need only be modified rather than replaced. Eventually, new forms emerge that have no relationship to the old, but the skeuomorphic designs probably helped the transition.
When it came to deciding what sounds the new silent automobiles should generate, those who wanted differentiation ruled the day, yet everyone also agreed that there had to be some standards. It should be possible to determine that the sound is coming from an automobile, to identify its location, direction, and speed. No sound would be necessary once the car was going fast enough, in part because tire noise would be sufficient. Some standardization would be required, although with a lot of leeway. International standards committees started their procedures. Various countries, unhappy with the normally glacial speed of standards agreements and under pressure from their communities, started drafting legislation. Companies scurried to develop appropriate sounds, hiring psychologists, Hollywood sound designers, and experts in psychoacoustics.
The United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a set of principles along with a detailed list of requirements, including sound levels, spectra, and other criteria. The full document is 248 pages. The document states:
This standard will ensure that blind, visually-impaired, and other pedestrians are able to detect and recognize nearby hybrid and electric vehicles by requiring that hybrid and electric vehicles emit sound that pedestrians will be able to hear in a range of ambient environments and contain acoustic signal content that pedestrians will recognize as being emitted from a vehicle. The proposed standard establishes minimum sound requirements for hybrid and electric vehicles when operating under 30 kilometers per hour (km/h) (18 mph), when the vehicle’s starting system is activated but the vehicle is stationary, and when the vehicle is operating in reverse. The agency chose a crossover speed of 30 km/h because this was the speed at which the sound levels of the hybrid and electric vehicles measured by the agency approximated the sound levels produced by similar internal combustion engine vehicles. (Department of Transportation, 2013.)
As I write this, sound designers are still experimenting. The automobile companies, lawmakers, and standards committees are still at work. Standards are not expected until 2014 or later, and then it will take considerable time for the millions of vehicles across the world to meet them. What principles should be used for the sounds of electric vehicles (including hybrids)? The sounds have to meet several criteria:
• Alerting. The sound will indicate the presence of an electric vehicle.
• Orientation. The sound will make it possible to determine where the vehicle is located, roughly how fast it is going, and whether it is moving toward or away from the listener.
• Lack of annoyance. Because these sounds will be heard frequently even in light traffic and continually in heavy traffic, they must not be annoying. Note the contrast with sirens, horns, and backup signals, all of which are intended to be aggressive warnings. Such sounds are deliberately unpleasant, but because they are infrequent and relatively short in duration, they are acceptable. The challenge for electric vehicles is to make sounds that alert and orient, not annoy.
• Standardization versus individualization. Standardization is necessary to ensure that all electric-vehicle sounds can readily be interpreted. If they vary too much, novel sounds might confuse the listener. Individualization has two functions: safety and marketing. From a safety point of view, if there were many vehicles on the street, individualization would allow them to be tracked. This is especially important at crowded intersections. From a marketing point of view, individualization can ensure that each brand of electric vehicle has its own unique characteristic, perhaps matching the quality of the sound to the brand image.
Stand still on a street corner and listen carefully to the vehicles around you. Listen to the silent bicycles and to the artificial sounds of electric cars. Do the cars meet the criteria? After years of trying to make cars run more quietly, who would have thought that one day we would spend years of effort and tens of millions of dollars to add sound?
Don Norman is a cognitive science professor (UC San Diego, Northwestern) turned executive (Apple vice president) turned designer (IDEO Fellow) and author of 20 books, including Living with Complexity and The Design of Everyday Things. He can be found at jnd.org.
Excerpted with permission from “The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition” by Don Norman. Available from Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2013. U.K. edition published by MIT Press.
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Ilikuwa siku yenye kupendeza ya Juni huko Munich, Ujerumani. Nilipelekwa kwenye hoteli yangu na kuendeshwa kwenye mashamba ya mashambani upande wa barabara nyembamba yenye mistari miwili. Mara kwa mara watembea-tembea walipita, na mara kwa mara mpanda-baiskeli alipita. Tulisimamisha gari kwenye mabega na kujiunga na kikundi cha watu waliokuwa wakitazama juu na chini barabarani. "Sawa, jiandae", nikamwambia. "Funga macho yako na usikilize."" Nikafanya hivyo na dakika moja hivi baadaye nikasikia kilio cha sauti ya juu, kikiwa kimeambatana na sauti ya chini ya kunguruma: gari lilikuwa likikaribia. Ilipokaribia, nilisikia kelele za tairi. Baada ya gari kupita, niliulizwa maoni yangu kuhusu sauti hiyo. Tulirudia zoezi hilo mara nyingi, na kila mara sauti ilikuwa tofauti. Ni nini kilichokuwa kikiendelea? "Kama mfano, ""Mfano wa sauti"" ni mfano wa aina ya umeme wa BMW." Magari ya umeme ni yenye utulivu sana. Sauti pekee wanayofanya hutoka kwa magurudumu, hewa, na mara kwa mara kutoka kwa kelele za juu za vifaa vya elektroniki. Wapenzi wa magari hupenda sana ukimya. Watu wanaotembea kwa miguu wana hisia tofauti-tofauti, lakini vipofu wana wasiwasi sana. Baada ya yote, wao huvuka barabara katika msongamano wa magari kwa kutegemea sauti za magari. Hivyo ndivyo wanavyojua ni wakati gani ni salama kuvuka. Na kile ambacho ni kweli kwa vipofu kinaweza pia kuwa kweli kwa mtu yeyote anayetembea barabarani akiwa amechanganyikiwa. Ikiwa magari hayatoi sauti yoyote, yanaweza kuua. Shirika la Marekani la Usalama wa Barabara Kuu (NHTSA) limesema kuwa watu wanaotembea kwa miguu wana uwezekano mkubwa zaidi wa kugongwa na magari ya umeme kuliko magari yenye injini ya mwako wa ndani. Hatari kubwa ni wakati magari ya hybrids au umeme yanaenda polepole: ni karibu kimya kabisa. Kuongeza sauti kwenye gari ili kuwaonya watembea kwa miguu si wazo jipya. Kwa miaka mingi, malori ya kibiashara na vifaa vya ujenzi vimelazimika kutoa sauti za mlio wanaporudi nyuma. Sauti za pembe zinahitajika na sheria, labda ili madereva waweze kuzitumia kuonya watembea kwa miguu na madereva wengine wakati uhitaji unapoibuka, ingawa mara nyingi hutumiwa kama njia ya kutolea hasira na hasira badala yake. Lakini kuongeza sauti ya kuendelea kwa gari la kawaida kwa sababu ingekuwa kimya sana ni changamoto. Ungependa sauti gani? Kikundi kimoja cha vipofu kilipendekeza kuweka mawe fulani ndani ya vifuniko vya magurudumu. Nilifikiri hii ilikuwa ya ajabu. Miamba hiyo ingetoa ishara za asili, zenye maana nyingi na rahisi kutafsiriwa. Gari lingekuwa kimya hadi magurudumu yalipoanza kugeuka. Kisha miamba hiyo ilitoa sauti ya kawaida ya kukwaruza kwa kasi ya chini, ikibadilika kuwa sauti ya mawe yanayoshuka kwa kasi ya juu. Mvua hiyo ilinyesha kwa kasi zaidi na zaidi hadi miamba hiyo ikawa imekwama kwenye pembe ya gari. Ambayo ni nzuri: sauti hazihitajiwa kwa magari ya kusafiri kwa kasi, kwa sababu basi kelele ya tairi ni kusikika. Hata hivyo, kutokuwa na sauti wakati gari halisogei kungekuwa tatizo. Idara ya masoko ya wazalishaji wa magari walidhani kuongeza sauti bandia itakuwa fursa ya ajabu ya chapa, kwa hivyo kila chapa ya gari au mtindo unapaswa kuwa na sauti yake ya kipekee ambayo ilikamata utu wa gari ambayo chapa hiyo ilitaka kuwasiliana. Porsche iliongeza masikio kwenye mfano wake wa gari la umeme ili kuipa sauti sawa na ile ya magari yake ya petroli. Nissan alijiuliza ikiwa gari la hybridi linapaswa kusikika kama ndege wanaopiga kelele. Wauzaji fulani walifikiri kwamba magari yote yanapaswa kuwa na sauti sawa, na sauti na viwango vya sauti vilivyo sawa, na hivyo kufanya iwe rahisi kwa kila mtu kujifunza jinsi ya kuzifafanua. Baadhi ya watu vipofu walidhani wanapaswa sauti kama magari - unajua, injini za petroli. Skeuomorphic ni neno la kiufundi kwa ajili ya kuingiza mawazo ya zamani, ya kawaida katika teknolojia mpya, hata ingawa wao tena kucheza jukumu kazi. Skeuomorphic miundo ni mara nyingi starehe kwa traditionalists, na kwa kweli historia ya teknolojia inaonyesha kwamba teknolojia mpya na vifaa mara nyingi slavishly kuiga zamani kwa sababu yoyote ya wazi isipokuwa kwamba ni nini watu kujua jinsi ya kufanya. Magari ya mapema yalionekana kama magari ya farasi bila farasi (kwa hiyo pia waliitwa magari bila farasi); plastiki za mapema zilitengenezwa kuonekana kama mbao; folda katika mifumo ya faili ya kompyuta mara nyingi zinaonekana kama folda za karatasi, kamili na tabo. Njia moja ya kushinda hofu ya kitu kipya ni kuifanya ionekane kama kitu cha zamani. Utaratibu huu ni decried na kubuni purists, lakini kwa kweli, ina faida yake katika kupunguza mpito kutoka zamani kwa mpya. Inatia moyo na kufanya kujifunza kuwe rahisi. Mifano ya dhana iliyopo inahitaji tu kubadilishwa badala ya kubadilishwa. Hatimaye, aina mpya hutokea ambazo hazina uhusiano na zile za zamani, lakini miundo ya skeuomorphic yaelekea ilisaidia mabadiliko hayo. Wakati wa kuamua ni sauti gani magari mapya yasiyo na sauti yanapaswa kuzalisha, wale waliotaka tofauti walitawala siku hiyo, lakini kila mtu pia alikubali kwamba lazima kuwe na viwango fulani. Inapaswa kuwa na uwezekano wa kuamua kwamba sauti hiyo inatoka kwenye gari, ili kutambua mahali pake, mwelekeo wake, na mwendo wake. Hakuna sauti ingekuwa muhimu mara moja gari alikuwa kwenda haraka kutosha, kwa sehemu kwa sababu kelele ya tairi ingekuwa ya kutosha. Baadhi ya standardization ingekuwa zinahitajika, ingawa na mengi ya uhuru. Kamati za kimataifa za viwango zilianza taratibu zao. Nchi mbalimbali, zisizoridhika na kasi ya kawaida ya mikataba ya viwango na chini ya shinikizo kutoka kwa jamii zao, zilianza kuunda sheria. Kampuni zilikimbilia kutengeneza sauti zinazofaa, zikiajiri wanasaikolojia, wabunifu wa sauti wa Hollywood, na wataalamu wa sauti za kiakili. Shirika la Marekani la Usalama wa Trafiki ya Barabara Kuu (NHTSA) limetoa kanuni kadhaa pamoja na orodha ya mahitaji, ikiwa ni pamoja na viwango vya sauti, spectra, na vigezo vingine. Hati hiyo ina kurasa 248 tu. "Hii inamaanisha kuwa ""kiwango hiki kitawahakikishia vipofu, watu wenye ulemavu wa kuona, na watembea kwa miguu wengine kuwa na uwezo wa kugundua na kutambua magari ya umeme na ya umeme karibu na kuagiza magari ya umeme na ya umeme yatokeze sauti ambayo watembea kwa miguu wataweza kusikia katika mazingira mbalimbali ya mazingira na kuwa na sauti ambayo watembea kwa miguu watatambua kama inayotolewa na gari.""" "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika kanuni ya chini ya sauti ya gari, ""Moto wa umeme"" ni gari la umeme ambalo linaendesha gari kwa kasi ya chini ya kilomita 30 kwa saa, wakati mfumo wa kuanza gari umewashwa, lakini gari limesimama, na wakati gari linaendesha nyuma." Kwa mfano, kwa sababu ya kiwango cha sauti cha gari la umeme na la hybridi, kiwango cha sauti cha gari la umeme na la hybridi ni sawa na kiwango cha sauti cha gari la injini ya mwako wa ndani. (Kifungu cha Usafiri, 2013) Ninapoandika hii, wabunifu wa sauti bado wanafanya majaribio. Makampuni ya magari, wabunge, na halmashauri za viwango bado zinafanya kazi. "Hata hivyo, kwa mujibu wa takwimu za mwaka 2014, ""itakuwa na muda mrefu kwa mamilioni ya magari duniani kote kufikia viwango hivyo.""" Ni kanuni zipi zinapaswa kutumiwa kwa sauti za magari ya umeme (ikiwa ni pamoja na hybrids)? Sauti lazima kukidhi vigezo kadhaa: • Alerting. Sauti hiyo itadhihirisha kuwapo kwa gari la umeme. • Maelekezo. Sauti hiyo itafanya iwezekane kujua mahali ambapo gari liko, kwa kiasi fulani ni kwa mwendo gani linaenda, na ikiwa linamkaribia au linamkimbia msikilizaji. • Kutokuwa na uchungu. Kwa sababu sauti hizi zitasikika mara nyingi hata katika trafiki nyepesi na daima katika trafiki nzito, hazipaswi kuwa zenye kukasirisha. Ona tofauti kati ya kengele, pembe, na ishara za kuokoa, ambazo zote zimekusudiwa kuwa maonyo makali. Sauti kama hizo ni zisizopendeza kimakusudi, lakini kwa sababu hazitokei mara nyingi na ni za muda mfupi, zinakubaliwa. Tatizo kwa magari ya umeme ni kutokeza sauti zinazotoa tahadhari na kuelekeza, wala si zenye kukasirisha. • Standardization dhidi ya individualization. Utaratibu ni muhimu ili kuhakikisha kwamba sauti zote za magari ya umeme zinaweza kutafsiriwa kwa urahisi. Ikiwa hutofautiana sana, sauti mpya zaweza kumchanganya msikilizaji. Utu una kazi mbili: usalama na uuzaji. Kutoka kwa mtazamo wa usalama, ikiwa kulikuwa na magari mengi barabarani, ubinafsi ungewezesha kufuatiliwa. Hilo ni muhimu hasa kwenye makutano yenye watu wengi. Kutoka kwa mtazamo wa uuzaji, ubinafsi unaweza kuhakikisha kwamba kila chapa ya gari la umeme ina sifa yake ya kipekee, labda ikilinganisha ubora wa sauti na picha ya chapa. Simama kwenye kona ya barabara na usikilize kwa makini magari yanayokuzunguka. Sikiliza baiskeli zisizo na sauti na sauti bandia za magari ya umeme. Je, magari hayo yanapatana na matakwa hayo? Baada ya miaka mingi ya kujaribu kufanya magari yaende kwa ukimya zaidi, ni nani angeweza kufikiri kwamba siku moja tungetumia miaka ya juhudi na mamilioni ya dola kuongeza sauti? Don Norman ni profesa wa sayansi ya utambuzi (UC San Diego, Northwestern) ambaye amegeuka kuwa mtendaji (Msemaji wa Apple), na mwandishi wa vitabu 20 kama vile Kuishi na Utata na Ubunifu wa Vitu vya Kila Siku. Anaweza kupatikana kwenye jnd.org. Iliyotolewa kwa ruhusa kutoka kwa <unk>The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition<unk> na Don Norman. Inapatikana kutoka Basic Books, mwanachama wa Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2013. Toleo la Uingereza lililochapishwa na MIT Press. Kila mwaka, tunatafuta teknolojia zenye kuahidi zilizo tayari kuwa na athari halisi ulimwenguni. Hapa ni maendeleo ambayo tunafikiri ni muhimu zaidi sasa hivi. "Titan Submersible, ""Laboratory Grown Chicken"" na GM's Wayward Cruise Robotaxis ni baadhi ya teknolojia zilizoshindwa zaidi katika mwaka huu." AI kwa kila kitu: Teknolojia 10 za Kuboresha 2024 Vifaa vya Generative AI kama ChatGPT vilipata kupitishwa kwa wingi kwa muda wa rekodi, na kuweka upya mwendo wa tasnia nzima. Wataalamu wa afya wamegundua dalili za ugonjwa wa Covid-19 katika damu Zinaweza kuongoza kwenye matibabu mapya. Uharibifu wa sehemu fulani ya mfumo wa kinga inaweza kuwa chanzo cha baadhi ya kesi za muda mrefu za COVID-19, utafiti mpya unaonyesha. 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