UI sound / earcon
The tiny success ding, error beep, or connect tone that tells you an interface event just happened.
See it
What it is
A UI sound is a short functional cue tied to an interface event. An earcon is the audio equivalent of an icon: a tiny learned pattern that means success, error, message received, device connected, or another state. The word dates to a 1989 paper by Blattner, Sumikawa, and Greenberg that set it against the visual icon. The familiar Windows device-connect tone and Apple's Tri-tone alert do more than decorate the moment; they confirm what the system just did.
Reach for one when the result may happen offscreen, needs immediate confirmation, or benefits from a distinct rhythm as well as a visual change. Build a related family from the same small pitch set and timbre, then vary contour: rising for success, falling or tense for a problem. Keep routine cues brief and quiet because people may hear them hundreds of times.
Gotcha: sound cannot be the only signal. A muted device, noisy room, hearing loss, or autoplay policy can remove it, so pair every earcon with visible state and, where useful, haptics. Do not play a sound before a user gesture on the web, and honor the product's mute setting.
Ask AI for it
Implement a four-sound earcon set with the Web Audio API: use OscillatorNode and GainNode for tap, success, warning, and error cues; keep each under 180 ms; reuse one three-note pitch palette; add 5 ms gain ramps to prevent clicks; and start AudioContext only after a user gesture. Pair every cue with visible text or state, expose a mute toggle, and never use audio as the sole error signal.