Design strategy for effective auditory signals in an apartment complex in Korea

A study was conducted to reports a design strategy for auditory signals to create a safe and comfortable space in an apartment complex in Korea. A rating experiment was conducted employing a semantic differential method to clarify the impressions conveyed by new sets of auditory signals intended to be introduced to the apartment complex. The apartment complex was divided into individual and public spaces, and three auditory signals were created for each function in each space, such as an alarm or notification sound. The sound stimuli were presented via an audio interface and headphones, while the presented level of the sound stimuli was adjusted to its optimum loudness by each participant during their training sessions. The participants were asked to rate the impression of each sound after they listened to the sound more than once. The experimental results show that 36.7% of the participants stated that there was no suitable sound for the detection of a gas leak in a kitchen.