Socially-appropriate Use of Noise-making Everyday Appliances in High-density Urban Housing

In high-density urban housing such as school dormitories and shared flats, noise from everyday appliances frequently causes stress and conflict among residents. This study seeks to foster socially-aware device use, whereby individuals consider the side-effects of their device operations on others. We propose Socially-aware Button, a novel socio-physical concept that embeds social awareness into the buttons of everyday appliances. It transforms device activation from a routine button press into a brief two-way interaction that surfaces nearby residents' circumstances and the potential discomfort caused by device use, helping users decide whether and how to proceed. We further develop TACT , an IoT-based end-to-end system that realizes this concept for noise-making devices. Its core feature, a reflective pause, temporarily delays activation when device use is expected to disturb nearby occupants and suggests concrete ways to mitigate the disturbance, such as delaying or modifying the intended operation. Through an in-lab comparative study and a two-week real-world deployment, we found that our approach achieved higher user satisfaction and persuasiveness than baseline interfaces, along with high acceptance in real-world settings.