Advanced audio displays in aerospace systems: technology requirements and expected benefits

It is suggested that multiple concurrent audio signals could be used to represent the status of various onboard subsystems and processes, as well as external objects (e.g. threats). Perceptually, these sounds could remain in the background, continuously available to the operator, without causing annoyance or interference with usual voice communications. Research at Georgia Tech is examining the effectiveness of various types of complex, nonspeech sounds for conveying information in the background and its resulting impact on operator performance. The use of steady-state sounds to represent the in-bounds versus out of bounds status of one to four concurrent processes was examined. Two conditions were compared: a visual-only condition in which process states were represented solely by visual indicators, and an audiovisual condition in which the visual indicators were supplemented by continuous audio signals. Subjects in the audiovisual condition consistently responded faster and more accurately, committed fewer false alarms, and rated their workload lower than subjects in the visual-only condition