In the analog era, changing tape or record playback speed moved pitch and tempo together (speed it up and the voice gets higher and faster). Digital audio's time-stretching and pitch-shifting algorithms separate the two, letting you double the speed while keeping pitch fixed, or shift the pitch while keeping speed fixed. The Web Audio API's OscillatorNode.frequency controls pitch; playbackRate moves both together unless you process them separately.
In UI design, pitch mostly signals positive/negative — a success tone rises (an ascending interval), an error tone falls (descending). Tempo mostly signals urgency — a low-battery warning that repeats faster and faster. When designing feedback with both axes, assign each one a single meaning and don't mix them, so users can learn the pattern.
Used for speed playback in calls (1.5x podcasts), accelerating danger-warning tempo in games, and pitch contrast between success/failure notification tones.
When to use
Carry positive/negative through pitch (rise/fall) and urgency through tempo (speed) — keep them separate, not mixed into one sound.