Audio Arts week 6

Not as fancy as a video game or a furby but i think this is a product that has benefited from interaction design. The singing washing machine: What - washing machine Where – the household when – when ever you want to wash your clothes who – is the man in the yellow cape? A sound map of the interactive response of the washing machine when commanded to complete a full cycle on a small load using cold water. The washing machine responds with a variety of beeps when it is being set to wash. Pressing the button to select the water level will prompt beeps pitched in correspondence with, a higher beep equals more water. A similar correspondence occurs in relation to water temperature (though there is no way really to create a response sound reflective of water temperature in the same way that one can reflect quantity). Pressing the 'go' button provokes a conclusive downward run of 5 semitones (somehow landing on a perceivable tonic tone). The process of putting on the washing has effectively yielded a short, simple ditty thanks to the innovation/sense of humour of the company's sound designer, through clever sound design, a household chore has been made slightly less mundane. Needless to say, when the machine is finished, it emits a call consisting of 2 notes a third apart (from low to high) incessantly until you relieve it of its contents.