The merits of sound: Gerba

April 29, 2009 by Dave Haynes

Bill Gerba has a very good post up this morning about the merits of using audio in DS deployments. Like me, he comes down pretty heavily on the side of NOT using it unless it is very well thought out and executed.

It’s a thorough piece, and worth a look.

I can only add a couple of things: 

1. I have also seen deployments using sound that have been sabotaged not only by staff, but by shoppers
2. There is an argument to be made that little audio cues, like the sound of a soda being opened, can be effective in making people look for the source, while not making staff and shoppers insane the way steady voiceovers will do. I know of a new pet supply oriented network that does these little audio cues, like a dog bark, quite well.