Designing for domestic sound zone interaction

Sound zone technology has been actively developed for more than two decades with a promise to provide users with personal sound without wearing headphones. In this paper, we build on this development from the perspective of interaction design in two ways. First, we explore the relation between sound zones and the acoustic environment, referred to as a soundscape, through a theoretical exploration of related research in both areas. Second, we present eight interaction design challenges resulting from this. Four different interaction approaches to potentially take on the challenges are sketched and discussed in a workshop and collecting qualitative data from the process. These approaches include tangible representation, light projections, familiar objects, and handheld devices. We group the approaches as visual displays, and user-centred and sound zone-centred interfaces. Overall, our research provides a new perspective on interaction with sound zone technology with specific outlines for further research in this area.