Sounding Off: Toward a Rhetoric of Sound in Technical Communication

Abstract

Purpose: As digital media continue to proliferate into every aspect of our lives, sound is playing an ever-increasing role in the conveyance of information. Because digital messages via the Internet, cell phones, smart devices, and personal devices are typically shorter and more direct than traditional text-based communication, digital communication will necessarily improve via other, less textual cues. Visually, we already see this through the use of digital cues, such as emojis and graphical displays (e.g., GPS charts). But digital communication, in the future, will gain much from the expanded use of sound. As yet, no analytical framework for classifying sound in technical communication has been established.

Method: The author revisits some historical uses of sound in technical communication before proposing a model for analyzing current and future sounds.

Results: Tools that encompass signaling, linguistics, paralinguistics, extralinguistics, and rhetoric can be used to analyze complex sonic combinations and to generate new sounds for technical communication.

Conclusions: A first model is proposed along with recommendations for the future.

Department(s)

English and Technical Communication

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Keywords and Phrases

Historical sound; Linguistics; Sonic rhetoric; Sound; Technical communication

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0049-3155

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2019 Society for Technical Communication, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Nov 2019

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