Overcoming The Pitfalls Of Poor Audio

Overcoming The Pitfalls Of Poor Audio

Audio is a differentiator that can make or break user experience. In an increasingly crowded marketplace, with more than 8 billion connected smartphones, tablets, PCs, TVs, TV boxes and other bits of audio hardware, there’s more customers than ever before demanding an instant connection with a product. When poor user experience translates into lost sales, avoid these four major pitfalls when it comes to audio.

When audio is too quiet / too loud, it means…

• The ambient noise level was not considered
• Wrong size acoustic component chosen
• Wrong frequency or frequencies selected for tone

If there’s distorted sound/amplifier clipping, it means…

• Wrong input level to the amplifier
• Amplifier gain is set too low or high
• Not enough amplifier power

If audio has a thin, tinny sound, it means…

• The resonant frequency of the speaker is too high
• The size of the speaker is too small
• Not enough enclosure volume for the speaker

When there’s echo and feedback, it means…

• A microphone placed too close to the speaker
• Microphone mounted to the same PCB as speaker
• Microphone and speaker mechanically coupled to the same surface

Making Sound Decisions

Audio is a differentiator that can make or break the user experience. Taking the time to consider your product’s audio while in the conceptual phase of product design is crucial to delivering a strong user experience.