The new ChromeOS sounds for Chromebooks have an interesting genesis

Did you know that ChromeOS itself has been completely silent up until very recently? I hadn’t thought about it, but without 3rd-party apps or services making sounds, a Chromebook is silent. In a bit of a shift for ChromeOS, however, Google has begun to embrace at least a few sounds for Chromebooks technically since September 2023. It hasn’t been completely available across the board for everyone until recently, but the journey to finally getting a few sound effects on Chromebooks has been an interesting one for sure.

The first sounds that Google added are related to the battery – low, medium and full – and they are what should be the first steps towards a more audibly-rich user experience on ChromeOS. The new sounds are aimed to not only enhance the user experience but also improve accessibility for users who are blind or have low vision, providing them with audio cues to more-easily understand their device’s battery life without the need for a screen reader.

From the beginning, I felt it was important to build on the existing foundation that we already have at Google, specifically the charging sounds for Pixel phones. It’s this faded-in piano that plays a nice G major chord. I actually recreated that piano sound itself, but with more low frequency content to take advantage of the robust bass sound that the larger speakers on a ChromeOS device support. I also wanted to add a tactile quality — as if it’s some kind of naturally occurring sound. For this, I added a super subtle layer of what I call ‘sparkle dust,’ which is actually based on white noise. And then we added small iterations based on what we were trying to communicate about the battery and charge level.

Henry Daw – Senior UX Sound Designer 

Implementing these sounds required the ChromeOS engineering team to overcome technical challenges like reducing the audio file sizes without compromising quality. The team opted for the FLAC format to maintain the integrity of the sound (with smaller file sizes) while ensuring compatibility across a wide range of Chromebooks. This necessitated enhancements to ChromeOS’s audio capabilities to support the new format, but once that was in place, the team was able to hook it deeper into the OS to change the tones based on the internal battery readings.

The result is a more interactive and informative user experience. For instance, when a Chromebook’s battery is sufficiently charged, users are greeted with a new, sparkle-dusted charging sound. Conversely, a distinctive, descending triple-note chime alerts users when their device’s battery life is critically low. Additionally, Henry Daw devised variations of the charging sound to provide immediate feedback on the battery’s charge level upon connection, ranging from a cheerful “swoop” for medium levels to a more urgent tone for low levels.

This careful and considered approach to introducing sound to ChromeOS reflects the team’s awareness of the operating system’s user base, particularly within educational settings where distractions must be minimized. The option to control the charge sound settings allows users to tailor their experience, whether they are new to ChromeOS or long-time users adjusting to the introduction of sound. The journey towards a more-audibly-rich ChromeOS is just beginning, with the team poised to expand the operating system’s sound palette in the future.