With the increasing use of digital technologies and smart objects, sound is playing an ever more important role in our everyday life interactions with a given object, human computer interface or space. However, few methodologies exist to work on sound-related issues during the early stages of a design process; manufacturers and sound designers lack a common terminology to describe and sketch sonic ideas. Informed by a review of the academic literature on verbal descriptions of sounds and a series of interviews we conducted with sound practitioners, we propose in the present article a potentially normative lexicon of 35 terms to describe the main sound characteristics. We also present a computer interface presenting the 35 terms illustrated with concrete and abstract sounds. This interface may be used as a tool for communication on sound features in a sound design process but also during training classes on sound education.

Speaking about sounds is not an easy task. Although there are many words available in our language to describe acoustic sensations, there is no strong consensus on the meaning of sound descriptors. Whereas visual stimuli can easily be described by everyone using simple words such as shapes, colors and textures, the characterization of sound stimuli is much more delicate, especially for people who don’t have a proper sound expertise. Therefore several practical domains are suffering from barriers in the communication of sound related matters. Sound practitioners such as sound designers, acousticians, composers, sound engineers... are using a very technical lexicon to talk about sound and music. Speaking to non-experts in such terms can easily lead to misunderstanding. On the other side, people from the industry often need to formulate requirements for a desired sound (either product sounds, digital sounds, soundscapes) in the early stages of a design process and they do not have a standard way to express themselves. In this study we tried to develop a common sound lexicon adapted for communication purposes based both on theoretical literature and on sound experts practice. A didactic software which presents 35 « sound words » along with their definitions and some sound illustrations has been developed and confronted to both experts and non-experts. The application of this educational tool for sound sensory evaluation purposes has also been investigated by the authors.