PhET Interactive Simulations Living Design Document – Last update 23 February 2023

My Solar System - Sound Design

Sound Design

Sound Design Summary

PhET Standard Sounds
Reset All	Quick rising and falling arpeggio	Same	reset-all.mp3
About Dialogue	A two tone click that plays lower tone then higher tone for open, and higher then lower tone for close	Same	general-open.mp3 general-close.mp3
Keyboard Shortcuts	A two tone click that plays lower tone then higher tone for open, and higher then lower tone for close	Same	general-open.mp3 general-close.mp3
Check for Updates	A two tone click that plays lower tone then higher tone for open, and higher then lower tone for close	Same	general-open.mp3 general-close.mp3
PhET Menu	A tonal click that plays when you click on the PhET logo to open the menu on the bottom right	Same	general-button-v4.mp3
Checkboxes - Path \| Center of Mass \| Gravity Force \| Velocity \| Grid \| Measuring Tape \| Values	A tonal click that plays when the checkboxes are checked and unchecked.	Same	checkbox-checked.mp3 checkbox-unchecked.mp3
Reset (Top Right) Follow Center of Mass Button and Clear Time Button	A tonal click that plays when you click any of the described buttons.	Same	general-button-v4.mp3
Radio Buttons - for speed. Fast, Normal, and Slow	A tonal blip that plays when a radio button is engaged. Goes up in pitch for additional radio buttons	Same	radio-button-v2.mp3
Play Button	A short ascending arpeggio in the timbre of a xylophone plays when the learner hits the Play button	Same	play-pause-003.mp3
Pause Button	A short descending arpeggio in the table of a xylophone plays when the learner hits the Pause button	Same	pause.mp3
Step Forward Button	When the sim is paused and the learner is engaging the step forward button a short low tonal blip plays	Same	step-forward-v2.mp3
Screen Selection Home Button	A positive sounding arpeggio plays when the Home button screen selection is pressed	Same	screen-selection-home-v3.mp3
Screen Selection Buttons	A positive rising arpeggio plays when one of the Screen Selection buttons are pressed	Same	screen-selection.mp3
Switching Screen Selector Icons	A low tonal “Womp” is played when the learner is on the home screen and switching between screen selections	Same	switching-screen-selector-icons-003.mp3

Intro and Lab screens

Sim Feature	Sound Description Default	Pedagogical design	Sound File
Acceleration of the bodies.	Each object has a different instrument sound and pitch. Strings, Brass, Organ, and Flute. The sound is mapping the acceleration. The volume changes according to each body’s acceleration. When the four bodies are at play (see Four Star Ballet) their sounds produce a Major Seventh Chord.	This sound helps indicate the shape of the orbit. If it is circular, it constantly plays the same sound, but if it is elliptical, the change in the sound hints at eccentricity. Students can also use this to describe the distance between the bodies and the center of mass when they are moving. Objects that are far, mean lower acceleration, lower volume.	Bodies_Brass_C3.mp3 Bodies_Strings_e3_v2.mp3 Bodies_Flute_g3.mp3 Bodies_Organ_b3.mp3
Number of bodies	Arpeggio sounds that successively gets higher in note tones and number as more bodies are added and lower in note value and number as bodies are subtracted.	Students know how many bodies are in the play area. Example: Choosing one body will play one tone, and adding a fourth body will play a four-tone arpeggio.	Mass_Selection_1.mp3 Mass_Selection_2.mp3 Mass_Selection_3.mp3 Mass_Selection_4.mp3
Bodies crashing	A short three-note falling arpeggio that plays when two bodies crash together.	Emphasize the collision of two bodies.	Bodies_Collide_Absorb_4_to_3.mp3
Changing mass (Sliders)	A Stand-Up Bass pluck that plays higher in pitch when the mass is larger and lower in pitch when the mass is smaller. NOTE: AM asked if we could reverse this like GFL:B.	The sound makes the impression that something is getting bigger or smaller.	Mass_Slider_Bass_Pluck.mp3

Meeting Notes

March 7, 2023

Discussion	Action
EM: I would suggest we bring back the crashing sound when objects collide. What about a short variant of the force field sound used in Gravity Force Lab. There’s not a force field at play here, but I think a variant of this sound (very short) could help indicate something significant has happened, while also avoiding the indication that we’re modeling impact more accurately than we are.	AM created a sound as an alternative sound and it is implemented in the simulation
EM: Mass Sliders: The mass sliders only sound every 20 units or so. If you move slowly, it’s silent a lot of the interaction. This feels a bit clunky. Better would be to hear sound continuously, so if you move slowly you hear a sound changing in pitch and if you move quickly it has the feel of the current “bump, bump, bump”. See Gravity Force Lab with Enhanced Sound on to see an example of both a continuous and discrete sound overlaid. This is not the same situation, in that case we have mass and Force sounds playing, here we only want Mass, but a continuous sound like Force but sounding similar to the current Mass sound, to be used here could give the effect I’m imagining.	Yes, do the same to that Gravity Force Lab. Also, MSS is going to have the little buttons for small changes in the mass, that can have the same sound.
EM: Something to consider pedagogically: having sound for Gravity Force and Velocity (when checkboxes checked). See Gravity Force Lab for an example of seeing how the Force sound can help emphasize what the Force arrows are doing.	No, because that is not the focus of this simulation
EM: For fun, and to have in our “toolbox” for future sims, it would be great to have a little “tick tick tick” sound as you move the ruler tape in/out.	Add to the list of sound for the future.

Feb 14, 2023

AM, DL, AV, EM

Re-meet to discuss Kepler with the full functionalities developed.
First and third law need more sound development?
It is necessary to have sounds related to acceleration, like the other screens because the movement is always an ellipse. EM, yes, for coherence, and because to provide information about close and far, fast and slow.
It is hard to plan different sound for Kepler Law screen that emphasize its learning goals, but at the same time have coherency with the other screens. The EM recommendation, to separate in two different sims. Learning goals are different, movement, representation, and other stuff.

Oct 4, 2022

AM, DL, EM, MM, KP, AV

Each body (color) has its own sound instrument to know that they are moving (like an orchestra)

Yellow it is a flute

In this session, we discuss an association of the mass with the sound (mapping the mass). The sounds played were with same
The sounds that most members like match the pitch with the proximity of the body to the center of mass. It this case, if the body is very massive, it doesn't move, and it doesn't have a sound.

Sep 6, 2022

AM, DL, EM, MM, KP, AV

Timeline

We want a public prototype very soon. It is expected at the end of the year.

People can hear only two things at the same time, when they are continuous.
We can experiment with the pitch of taster and slow movements and the metronome for the dots in Kepler law
For Kepler law, we can add a sound for forbidden orbits (parabolic and crash in the son)
In the first screen, we have only 2 bodies. Some sounds designed for other sims that can work here:

When the mass change -> Gravity Force Lab basic