Hear It Is: enhancing Rapid Document Browsing with Sound Cues

Abstract

Document navigation has become increasingly commonplace as the use of electronic documents has grown. Speed–Dependent Automatic Zooming (SDAZ) is one popular method for providing rapid movement within a digital text. However, there is evidence that details of the document are overlooked as the pace of navigation rises. We produced a document reader software where sound is used to complement the visual cues that a user searches for visually. This software was then evaluated in a user study that provides strong supportive evidence that non-visual cues can improve user performance in visual seeking tasks.