An audible cue is a sound generated
by the computer to draw the user's attention to, or provide feedback
about, an event or state of the computer. Audible cues can be anything
from a beep to a recorded or computer-generated message,
and occur when the user attempts to perform an invalid action or
when an event or state of the operating environment requires the
user's attention. For example, the system may beep when the user
tries to choose a menu item that is not available.
If your application will be used with computer hardware that
has advanced audio capabilities, you can specify more elaborate
and informative cues, such as speech synthesis. Audible cues are
limited only by the available hardware and the usefulness of the
cue. However, audible cues should not be intrusive or distracting,
and the user should always be able to specify that the audible cues
be turned off.
Some users may be unable to hear audible cues due to disabilities
or environmental constraints. Therefore, audible cues should always
be redundant to or replaceable by visual cues. For example, use
an audible in conjunction with a flashing screen.
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