Can we use music in computer-human communication?

The audio channel has been somewhat neglected in Human Computer Interface Design. It is a powerful channel which offers processing options often of a complementary nature to the visual channel. Music makes the most complex and sophisticated use of this channel and has well-organised techniques and structures for disambiguating parallel time-dependent events. This paper examines the contribution music might make to interface design and reports on some preliminary investigations, which indicate that there does seem to be a prima facie case for examining the subject further.