Sound and the Credibility of Websites?

[J213]

Hi everyone. I'm a grad student studying Information Architecture and I was wondering if anyone knew where I could gain some information (print -or- electronic) on the effects of sound on Website Credibility. I'm looking for any prior studies conducted on the topic or similar topic of that nature. It doesn't seem that there have been many studies conducted on how sound or music can affect a user's experience when viewing a website. Any info would be great. Thanks!

[felgall]

Haven't seen any studies done on it but have seen reports of people who lost their jobs through visiting sites that played something automatically without asking first as well as numerous (too many to count) reports of people who leave web sites instantly when the sound on the site interferes with the music they already have playing on their computer. Plenty of usability books around that list playing sounds automatically as a major minus for web sites (both from the huge increase in download time and the nuisance factor) and that suggest that the only way to handle it properly is to provide a link so that those that want to can play the sounds. Only really appropriate for sites where the sound has some sort of relevance - if it isn't relevant to the site then people will either ignore it or leave. Those books on IA that I have read don't even mention sound in connection to web sites - probably because there are only a few areas where it is appropriate to consider it.

[Stephen Philbin]

I think the only time I'd consider putting sound effects on pages, is if I was going to make it intentionally OTT cheesy. I don't think I'd ever seriously consider putting sound effects and background music on a proper work.

[Watts]

FWIW - I don't have speakers (plugged in) so it's wasted on me. Ditto on the "cheese" factor. Same thing goes for Flash intro's, etc. There's a time and a place for everything. Reminds me of the old commercial about the spinning/flaming logos.