A method to propose color associated with onomatopoeia based on sound symbolism

Color of materials influence on texture perceptions. Therefore, it is significant to recommend colors suitable for tactile sensations. In Japanese, tactile experiences are easily and frequently expressed by onomatopoeias such as “sara-sara” and “huwa-huwa”. In this paper, we propose a system which recommends colors appropriate for tactile sensations associated with onomatopoeias based on Japanese sound symbolism. Our system estimates tactile images evoked by an input onomatopoeia quantitatively and calculates the similarities between the onomatopoeia and colors, whose images were respectively evaluated by SD scales in the psychological experiments. We conducted an experiment in order to confirm the validity of our system. Results indicate that our system succeeded in selecting cognitively plausible colors to represent tactile images of onomatopoeias. Our method makes it possible to develop a system which recommends materials with tactile sensations and colors desired by users via onomatopoeias.