People (as well as many other animals) perceive situation changes via sound and vision. Vision is directional, and sound is not. Therefore, sound is the most reliable method to draw the user's attention to a change in situation.
People (and other living creatures) perceive details using focal vision and perceive situational changes with peripheral vision. Therefore, motion in the visual display is best to attract the user's attention.
Textual context information is required to guide the user in recovery procedures. However, textual information representation does not support the at-a-glance perception required for routine operation.
Sound and motion issues are relevant to the Look-and-feel dilemma .
They imply that sound and motion are useful for alert recognition, but problematic for tasks that demand the user's attention.
Use sound and moving visual objects to attract the user's attention to situational changes.
Avoid sound and moving objects when the user needs to focus on doing a job.
Updated on 25 May 2016.