An earcon is a brief, distinctive sound that represents a specific event or conveys other information. Earcons are a common feature of computer operating systems and applications, ranging from a simple beep to indicate an error, to the customizable sound schemes of modern operating systems that indicate startup, shutdown, and other events.[1]
The name is a pun on the more familiar term icon in computer interfaces. Icon sounds like "eye-con" and is visual, which inspired D.A. Sumikawa to coin "earcon" as the auditory equivalent in a 1985 article, 'Guidelines for the integration of audio cues into computer user interfaces.'[2]
The term is most commonly applied to sound cues in a computer interface, but examples of the concept occur in broadcast media such as radio and television:
Earcons are generally synthesized tones or sound patterns. The similar term auditory icon refers to recorded everyday sounds that serve the same purpose.