Audio
From The Learning Engineer's Knowledgebase
Audio is a medium that uses sound to convey information. It is commonly used in every educational technology context, most commonly appearing as sound, voice, and music recordings. It frequently appears next to other media, including video, websites, apps, software, animations, and interactive learning objects.
Definition
Audio is considered a basic channel of communication that conveys sound in standalone-audio and multimedia objects. Audio can be played by itself, such as through sound recordings, voice and conversational recordings, and music. It also frequently appears alongside other media in multimedia productions, including video, websites, apps, software, animations, and interactive learning objects.
Additional Information
Audio is one of the building blocks of technology-based media and how information is conveyed digitally. Audio, as an educational technology, has been around since the age of the dawn of telephone and radio, and can communicate information differently than simple text reading can. This isn't to say that audio is better, but it has differences in how people process the information they receive. Audio can thus serve different purposes than text alone, and can provide a rich experience for learners. Audio can convey additional inflection and tone that is not possible in text, as well as cues in recordings, such as noises from a particular context or environment. Additionally, audio can generally be heard faster than it is read, adding to the benefit for learners.
Audio is seen as sometimes more natural for conveying words and sounds, as humans are readily able to process speech through their ears. Additionally, listeners can typically do other tasks while listening to audio only, as the attention of their eyes, hands, and other senses are not needed. This has led to the rise of podcasts, audiobooks, text-to-speech technologies, and other audio media being used in educational products.
Audio is also frequently used to convey ambience and setting in immersive environments for learning where multiple senses are engaged simultaneously. For instance, when discussing ocean life in a science class, a teacher may play a background sound of waves crashing and seagulls screeching to set a tone and add immersion to the activity.
Using audio as a medium is seen as a more passive learning activity, as the learner does not have to do anything but listen to the audio, and the audio continues to play itself. A learner may choose to tune out audio just like any other medium, so it is not a guaranteed way to convey information. Instead, the same rules apply to all media that the learner needs to be engaged and have a reason to use the media to finish listening.
Not all people have the same level of ability to process audio information. It is important for designers to consider media and information conveyance that does not rely only on audio for people who are hearing impaired, or for providing alternatives to audio, such as subtitles in videos. The inclusion of multiple forms and redundancies in information is a principle of accessibility in design of media and educational products.
Tips and Tricks
- Designers may consider following the steps on this wiki for creating, editing, and publishing audio files.
- Consider ways that you can use audio as standalone audio files in your design, especially in combination with other media that you are using.
- Conversations, voice recordings, and sounds of landscapes and environmental contexts might be a helpful way to create a setting and mood for your product. This is not just the case for digital learning environments, but also in-person learning experiences. Think of ways that you can use sounds and audio recordings to increase the immersiveness of your educational product and use as many senses as possible.
- Background music and sounds are commonly included in software and apps, especially with videogames.
- Always take a moment to think about how people who are hearing impaired may engage with content that is not audio. Include similar resources for people who do not choose to use the audio, such as transcripts, subtitles, and captioning.
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