Does coffee taste better when your coffee machine produces a particular sound? According to industrial designer Elif Özcan Vieira and the findings in her Ph.D. thesis, the sound a product makes is an integral part of that product.

The auditory experience of product users is not just "a sensory response to an acoustical stimulus." In fact, users contribute characteristics, such as trustworthiness or a high standard of quality, to products on the basis of the sounds they produce.

Product sounds influence our reasoning, emotional state, purchase decisions, preference, and expectations regarding the product and the product’s performance. Thus, auditory experience elicited by product sounds may not be just about the act of hearing or a sensory response to an acoustical stimulus (e.g., this is a loud and sharp sound). A complimentary and meaningful relationship exists between a product and its sounds.

The importance of sound design is probably most important for car designers as one article in the German magazine Spiegel illustrates (Komponisten des perfekten Klicks, translated version “Composers of the perfect click” via Google Translate).

Most car manufacturers employ armies of physicists and engineers in the field of sound-engineering, to design all relevant sounds in the car according to the typical trademark sound. In times when cars are becoming increasingly silent, with the exception of sports cars, melodious sounds of indicators or closing doors are becoming increasingly important. The auto industry has recognized that even seemingly mundane sounds or noises are associated with feelings and not only shiny paintings.

It is estimated that between 2-5% of total development costs for a new car model go into sound design. Frederick Dudenhöffer, director of the Center Automotive Research says “Customers want to have an atmosphere, that signals, what brand he is driving. There are only few products besides cars, where emotions have such an big influence. When buying sports cars, 100% is about emotions.”

The importance of sounds can nowhere seen better than on the homepage of the premium brands, you can listen to a Porsche starting, accelerating and driving.

What are the implications for your business?

If car manufacturers spend 2-5% of their development budget on sound design, it is obvious that for a certain customer segments, remarkable customer experiences are created through “multi-sensory” experiences. Besides functionality, other aspects influence the customer experience through the different human senses – touch, smell, hearing, taste and sight. Only taste is a sensory experience that is difficult to design if you don’t sell food or drinks. All other sensory responses can be designed – and they contribute to the overall customer experience.