Human Factors in Auditory Warnings

First published in 1999, this book provides answers to many of the problems associated with the design and application of auditory warnings. It represents the position of contemporary auditory warnings research and development in a single unique volume. Application domains include air traffic control, aviation, emergency services, manufacturing, medicine, military and nuclear power. The contributors constitute many key experts in this area, some of whom are psychoacousticians, some psychologists and some ergonomists. Correspondingly, the chapters range from those covering basic topics such as audibility and localization of warnings, through psychological issues concerned with the relationship between design, understanding and the behavioural response, to the more general ergonomic issues of implementing the warnings in a particular context. Although each of the chapters takes a slightly different perspective, they all balance theoretical underpinning with practical application. The editors have undertaken to draw all of the contributions together by providing an overview of warnings research at the beginning of the book and summary of the contributions at the end. This book will appeal to all involved in the research, development, design and implementation of auditory warnings.

1. Auditory Warning and Displays: An Overview. Neville A. Stanton and Judy Edworthy. 2. Localisable Alarms. Deborah J. Withington. 3. Audibility of Reverse Alarms under Hearing Protectors and its Prediction for Normal and Hearing-Impaired Listeners. Gary S. Robinson, John G. Casali. 4. Extending the Domain of Auditory Warning Sounds: Creative Use of High Frequencies and Temporal Asymmetry. R.D Patterson, A.J. Datta. 5. The Interpretation of Natural Sound in the Cockpit. James A.Ballas. 6. Auditory Warning Affordance. Neville A. Stanton, Judy Edworthy. 7. The Perceived Urgency and Detection Time of Multitone Auditory Signals. Ellen C. Haas, Judy Edworthy. 8. A Psychophysiological Evaluation of The Perceived of the Perceived Urgency of Auditory Warning Signals. Jennifer L. Burt, Debbie S. Bartolome-Rull, Daniel W. Burdette, J. Raymond Comstock. 9. Investigations of Alarm Mistrust under Conditions of Varying Alarm and Outgoing Task Criticality. James P. Bliss. 10. Using Redundancy in the Design of Time-Critical Warnings: A Theory-Driven Approach. Stephen J. Selcon. 11. Different Effects f Auditory Feedback in Man-Machine Interfaces. Matthias Rayer Berg. 12. Speech-Based Alarm Displays. Neville A. Stanton , C. Baber. 13. Designing Aircraft Warning System: A Case Study. J.M. Noyes, A.F Cresswell Starr, J.A. Rankin. 14. The Design and Validation of Attensons for a High Workload Environment. Elizabeth Hellier , Judy Edworthy. 15. Observational Studies of Auditory Warnings on the Intensive Care Unit. Christina Meredith, Judy Edworthy, David Rose. 16. Auditory Alarms in Intensive Care. John Welch. 17. Key Topics in Auditory Warnings. Neville A. Stanton, Judy Edworthy.

Neville Stanton is Professor at the Department of Design, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK. Previously, he was a Reader in Engineering Psychology at the University of Southampton, and Visiting Fellow at the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University, New York, USA He is also a Human Factors Consultant, and is editor of Human Factors in Alarm Design, 1994; Human Factors in Nuclear Safety, 1996; and Human Factors in Consumer Products, 1998, all with Taylor & Francis. Judy Edworthy is a Reader in Human Factors in the Psychology Department at the University of Plymouth. She is the author of many significant articles on auditory warnings and joint author with Austin Adams of Warning Design: A Research Prospective, 1996, Taylor & Francis.