Inducing Mimicry Through Auditory Icons

This study aims to find out if periodic auditory icon loop and non-periodic auditory icon loop can induce mimicry in humans. Auditory icons are snippet of everyday sounds used to represent information or processes. A within-subject, Oz-of-Wizard experiment was conducted among forty participants. The participants were asked to eat an apple while being exposed to different types of auditory icon loop. The loops were made using an auditory icon that plays the sound of crunchy apple bite. Both male and female participants were exposed to periodic auditory icon loop, with the auditory icon played every 10 second. Participants were also exposed to non-periodic auditory icon loop which uses the same auditory icon but was made to represent the eating behaviour of a real person of the same sex. The results show that only male participants mimicked the male non-periodic auditory icon loop. Although female participants mimicked the female auditory icon loop, the result is not significant. Both male and female did not mimic the periodic auditory icon loop. Thus, only auditory icons that represent normal biting pace can induce mimicry, significantly in male participants. The findings from this study has implications on the design of persuasive technology that uses auditory icons to encourage behavioural change.