Experiences of Personal Sound Technologies

Listening to sound individually while in close proximity of other people is increasingly enabled by a range of technologies. One still in development is sound zone technology that aims to provide personal sound without headphones or other wearable speakers. User-oriented studies in the area of personal listening primarily emerge from the fields of acoustics and sound engineering but are gaining increasing interest within HCI research. In this paper, we present a study investigating the experience of personal sound in relation to different types of situations and personal sound technologies. Our findings show strategies for adjusting personal sound and social interaction, descriptions of sound quality in relation to sound and situation types, and insights into participants’ experiences of awareness using personal sound technology. The paper contributes with a thematic characterisation of this type of technology, serving as a foundation for further studies. This furthermore initiates a discussion on personal sound technology and soundscape composition in how situation types affect which sounds to include or exclude, and when.