What is touch sound on your phone?
What are touch sounds?
Touch sounds, also known as audio feedback or user interface sound effects, are brief sounds that play when you interact with the touchscreen on your smartphone or tablet. They provide audio confirmation when you tap, swipe, scroll, type, or perform other actions on the screen (Samsung Support, 2022).
For example, when you open an app, touch a button, or tap on an icon, you may hear a short tapping or clicking sound. As you scroll through a page, swipe between screens, or slide a setting toggle, you may hear swooshing or sliding sounds. Touch sounds also include keypress clicks when typing on a touchscreen keyboard.
In essence, touch sounds are audible indicators that you successfully performed an action on the touchscreen. They provide feedback without requiring you to look at the screen. This can be especially useful for accessibility when vision is limited.
Common touch sounds
There are a few common touch sounds people encounter when using smartphones:
Click sounds occur when tapping buttons on the screen. This provides audio feedback that a button was pressed successfully. Many smartphones play a short click sound effect for button presses by default.According to some users, the click sounds provide satisfying feedback when pressing virtual buttons.
Scrolling on touchscreens often triggers swoosh or swipe sounds. As you swipe up and down through apps and menus, the phone may make sweeping or rushing air sounds. These auditory cues enhance the sense of motion when scrolling through content.
Along with audio feedback, smartphones also commonly provide haptic feedback through vibrations. When you press buttons or interact with certain elements, the phone will vibrate briefly. This tactile feedback confirms your touch was registered.
Purpose of touch sounds
Touch sounds primarily serve to provide confirmation of actions taken by the user (https://m2.material.io/design/sound/applying-sound-to-ui.html). When a user taps, swipes, or interacts with an element on the screen, a corresponding sound effect confirms that their input was received and the expected action occurred. This audio feedback creates a more intuitive user interface by connecting the visuals with matching sounds.
Without any audio cues, users are left guessing whether their tap or swipe actually registered. But adding appropriate sounds for each UI interaction provides that reassuring auditory confirmation. Now the user feels more confident navigating through menus, buttons, and options knowing their actions have taken effect as expected (https://uxplanet.org/the-role-of-sounds-in-ux-47adb8f82b38). This improved understanding of the interface through utilizing multiple senses allows for a more intuitive and user-friendly experience.
When touch sounds are used
Touch sounds provide audio feedback when interacting with your phone’s screen and interface. Some of the main actions that trigger touch sounds include:
- Typing on the keyboard – Many keyboards are configured to play a short tapping sound with each key press. This audio feedback makes typing feel more responsive.
- Pressing onscreen buttons – Buttons and icons like the home button or back button will often play a click sound when pressed. This confirms the action.
- Scrolling pages – Swiping up and down through apps and webpages will often play subtle scrolling sounds. These sounds respond to the speed of scrolling.
- Locking/unlocking phone – The lock and unlock actions will play different sounds like clicks or swooshes. This gives confirmation when locking or unlocking the screen.
In summary, touch sounds tend to be used for typing, pressing buttons, scrolling, and locking/unlocking the phone. The audio feedback enhances the tactile experience and makes interactions feel more responsive.
Controlling touch sounds
You can control touch sounds on both Android and iOS devices by locating the sound settings and customizing options. On Android, open the Settings app and select Sound. From there you can toggle touch sounds on or off. Some devices also allow you to customize the touch sound itself by selecting from different options under Other sounds and vibrations (1).
On iOS devices, open Settings, go to Accessibility, then select Touch. Under the Haptic Touch or 3D & Haptic Touch menu, you can choose the touch duration – Fast, Slow, or Firm (2). This adjusts the intensity and length of the tap vibration. However, there is no setting to disable touch sounds completely on iOS.
Third party apps are also available on both platforms that give you more granular control over customizing or disabling touch feedback sounds.
Accessibility Benefits
One of the most important uses of touch sounds is to provide critical feedback for visually impaired users. Touch sounds allow blind and low vision users to successfully interact with their smartphones in an accessible way. As TechRepublic notes, touch sounds like “Explore by touch” and “Clickable items sounds” allow blind users to explore their screens through audio feedback. This makes touchscreen phones, which traditionally rely on visuals, finally usable for those who cannot see the screen.
For those with complete blindness, touch sounds transform a touchscreen from an impenetrable surface to one rich with audible information. The audio feedback provided by touch sounds allows blind users to navigate apps, type on digital keyboards, adjust settings, and access all features on their smartphones. As Lighthouse Guild describes, combining touch and sound creates vital spatial awareness that enables the blind to successfully interact with and master touchscreen devices. Overall, touch sounds provide the auditory interface needed to make smartphones accessible.
Drawbacks of touch sounds
While touch sounds provide accessibility benefits, they also come with some drawbacks:
Touch sounds can be annoying or disruptive, especially in quiet environments like libraries, movie theaters, or meetings. The clicking and tapping sounds may disturb others around you.
Having touch sounds enabled can also drain your phone’s battery faster since it requires powering the speaker or haptic feedback to generate sounds.
There are also potential privacy concerns with touch sounds. In a quiet room, people around you may be able to hear your key taps or screen touches, revealing what you are doing on your phone.
Trends and innovations
Touch sounds are constantly evolving as technology advances. One key trend is the use of haptic feedback to replace or augment some touch sounds. As this Builtin article explains, haptic feedback uses vibrations and motions to communicate sensations to the user. This can provide a richer tactile experience and enable new forms of non-verbal communication.
Another emerging trend is contextual or “smart” touch sounds. Rather than playing the same sound each time, phones can now dynamically adjust touch sounds based on the context. For example, your phone may play a softer sound at night or switch to vibration instead. As discussed in this LinkedIn article, advancements in haptic technology are enabling more nuanced and contextual touch feedback experiences.
Alternatives to touch sounds
There are a few alternative ways to get feedback when interacting with phones besides audible touch sounds, which some users may prefer. Two of the main alternatives are haptic/vibration feedback and visual indicators.
Haptic or vibration feedback utilizes the vibration motor in phones to provide subtle tactile feedback when pressing on the screen or buttons. This allows users to get some physical confirmation of their touch interactions, without any audible sound. Many modern smartphones like the iPhone utilize haptic feedback through features like “Haptic Touch” [1]. Users can control the intensity of haptic feedback on their devices or turn it off entirely.
Visual indicators are another way phones can confirm touch interactions without sound. This could be brief animation or lighting effects that show when a user presses on the screen. Some phones light up the borders of the screen when buttons are pressed. Others display ripple animations emanating from the touch point. These subtle visual cues work as audio-free feedback.
For those who prefer to keep their devices silent, haptic feedback and visual indicators allow that while still providing interface feedback. However, some users may find these alternatives lack the clarity of audible confirmation. There are pros and cons to the different types of feedback phones utilize.
Summary
In summary, touch sounds play an important role in providing audio feedback for interactions on touchscreen devices. The main purposes of touch sounds are to confirm an action, enhance usability and accessibility, and improve the user experience. Common touch sounds include tap sounds, swipe sounds, and keyboard clicks.
Touch sounds are most commonly used when typing, pressing buttons, selecting options, and navigating screens and menus. They help indicate that a touch has been registered, provide feedback without needing to look at the screen, and can assist users with visual impairments. However, some users find touch sounds repetitive and distracting, especially in quiet environments.
Overall, touch sounds offer more benefits than drawbacks for most users. The accessibility benefits are substantial, and many users rely on audio cues in day-to-day use. With creative innovations in sound design and greater user control over audio feedback, touch sounds can be optimized to provide useful information without excessive noise. Balancing audio feedback with calm, unintrusive sounds can make touchscreen devices more pleasant and usable for all.