Optimizing information displays using multimodal design science

This paper introduces the Multimodal Information Design Support (MIDS) system, which is an empirically validated software tool aimed at optimizing information display design. Operators in information-intense environments, such as control rooms, are constantly faced with the challenge of processing vast amounts of disparate information, which may cause information overload and negatively impact task completion. Current control room interfaces are primarily visual displays with some auditory cues (e.g. alarms), and often consist of outdated technology with little consideration of human information processing limitations. While incorporating human-computer interaction (HCI) design guidance should improve operator performance to some degree, greater benefits may be achieved by matching task demands with human perceptual and cognitive abilities. MIDS uses a validated equation to predict operator workload and periods of overload on a second-by-second basis based on the targeted task environment. For times of predicted overload, MIDS provides interface designers with multimodal design guidelines that consider cross-modal interactions within a multi-tasking environment to optimize information presentation across available resources. MIDS has effectively been applied in various command and control settings and has resulted in significantly reduced predicted time of cognitive overload and increased performance and situation awareness. It is expected that similar benefits may be realized in power plant control rooms.