Assessing effectiveness of various auditory warning signals in maintaining drivers' attention in virtual reality-based driving environments.
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.
Lin
Chin-Teng
CT
Brain Research Center, Department of Electrical and Control Engineering, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan.
Chiu
Tien-Ting
TT
Huang
Teng-Yi
TY
Chao
Chih-Feng
CF
Liang
Wen-Chieh
WC
Hsu
Shang-Hwa
SH
Ko
Li-Wei
LW
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