title: Assessing effectiveness of various auditory warning signals in maintaining drivers' attention in virtual reality-based driving environments.
abstract: Drivers' fatigue contributes to traffic accidents, so drivers must maintain adequate alertness. The effectiveness of audio alarms in maintaining driving performance and characteristics of alarms was studied in a virtural reality-based driving environment. Response time to the car's drifting was measured under seven conditions: with no warnings and with continuous warning tones (500 Hz, 1750 Hz, and 3000 Hz), and with tone bursts at 500 Hz, 1750 Hz, and 3000 Hz. Analyses showed the audio warning signals significantly improved driving. Further, the tones' spectral characteristics significantly influenced the effectiveness of the warning.
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Center, Department of Electrical and Control Engineering, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chin-Teng
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Tien-Ting
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Teng-Yi
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Chih-Feng
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.forename: Wen-Chieh
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Shang-Hwa
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Li-Wei
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Ko
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards; D001336:Automobiles / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011482:Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014584:User-Computer Interface