Information Technology Reference
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Figure 8.4.
Example of a small hierarchy of files, adapted from [BRE 98a]
Figure 8.5.
Sonification principles of a hierarchy on four levels, adapted from [BRE 98a]
A variation of the method of hierarchical earcons is also put forward by
Brewster:
compound earcons
(see also [BRE 98b]). The hierarchy is numbered
similarly to chapters: 1, 1.1, 1.2, 2, 2.1, 2.2, etc. Then, to each number, and the dot
“.” corresponds a tone of instrument (see Figure 8.6). Each item is then represented
by the concatenation of tones that thus form a sequence. The mixed earcons
therefore function a bit like Morse code, i.e. by a construction of complex messages
based on a finite number of items that make up an alphabet.
The advantage of this method is that it allows any hierarchy. However, the major
inconvenience is that compound earcons become increasingly longer as we descend
