FREQUENCY-BASED VOLUME ADJUSTMENT METHOD

Publishing Venue

Motorola

Related People

Abstract

The volume adjustment for many radio and tele- phone products is through the depression oftwo but- tons, one to increase volume and one to decrease volume.. Two kinds of user feedback are normally associated with this volume adjustment: visually, through a set of ascending and descending bars, presented on the display with more and increasing height bars indicating higher volume levels and less and decreasing height bars indicating lower volume levels; the other user feedback comes from a radio generated tone that is delivered from the speaker at a level that is similar to the current loudness set- ting, with increasingly louder tones indicating higher volume settings and decreasing loudness tones indi- cating reduced loudness settings. On some radios- type products, which have potentiometers to control loudness, loudness feedback is derived Tom the angu- lar position ofthe potentiometer, where turning in a clockwise direction increases loudness and turning in a counterclockwise direction decreases loudness.

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V Technical Developments

FREQUENCY-BASED VOLUME ADJUSTMENT METHOD

by Larry Marvet

  The volume adjustment for many radio and tele- phone products is through the depression oftwo but- tons, one to increase volume and one to decrease volume.. Two kinds of user feedback are normally associated with this volume adjustment: visually, through a set of ascending and descending bars, presented on the display with more and increasing height bars indicating higher volume levels and less and decreasing height bars indicating lower volume levels; the other user feedback comes from a radio generated tone that is delivered from the speaker at a level that is similar to the current loudness set- ting, with increasingly louder tones indicating higher volume settings and decreasing loudness tones indi- cating reduced loudness settings. On some radios- type products, which have potentiometers to control loudness, loudness feedback is derived Tom the angu- lar position ofthe potentiometer, where turning in a clockwise direction increases loudness and turning in a counterclockwise direction decreases loudness.

  The problems with these types of feedback are as follows. Visual indicators only work if the user is looking at the display, which is seldom the case when adjusting volume, especially when, during a con- versation, the user has the phone device to his ear. The audible indicator has the tendency to shock and annoy the listener by blasting a pure tone-often loud, depend...