Speech and voice in instructional programmes

Literature search shows that, compared to vision, very little attention has been given to audio as a vehicle of information. This contrasts strongly with the daily use of audio in direct as well as in mediated communication. New technologies relate audiovisual instruction with computer‐assisted learning. New challenges and new questions appear from this development. A number of cases of deliberate application of audio are briefly described. Applying audio in AV/CAI format, one has to deal with aspects of dominance and redundancy in auditory‐visual presentation which are still not clear. Describing acoustic and informational characteristics of audio and qualities of voice and speech may be helpful for the designer of auditory materials.