A whisper in your right ear when you are alone. Marbles hitting a clear pine floor. Nails scratching against a warm wool sweater.

Affective sound design has been utilized in numerous ways, whether it is in artistic works, utilities or UX design. In HCI we find ourselves exposed to sound which is designed to provide positive or pleasant results. However, the use of sound as an affective tool for providing discomforting or unpleasant experiences can be just as applicable. The works of American filmmaker David Lynch have frequently utilized affective sound design in ways that focus on the unpleasant or the unknown, creating dreamlike and unsettling results.

We are proposing the use of Sonic Aberrations, or intentionally unpleasant and fragmented sound design, for use within and beyond the CHI community. This approach uses these seemingly unpleasant sound applications for artistic and utilitarian use cases alike.