Evaluating warning sound urgency with reaction times.

Abstract

It is well-established that subjective judgments of perceived urgency of alarm sounds can be affected by acoustic parameters. In this study, the authors investigated an objective measurement, the reaction time (RT), to test the effectiveness of temporal parameters of sounds in the context of warning sounds. Three experiments were performed using a RT paradigm, with two different concurrent visuomotor tracking tasks simulating driving conditions. Experiments 1 and 2 show that RT decreases as interonset interval (IOI) decreases, where IOI is defined as the time elapsed from the onset of one sound pulse to the onset of the next. Experiment 3 shows that temporal irregularity between pulses can capture a listener's attention. These findings lead to concrete recommendations: IOI can be used to modulate warning sound urgency; and temporal irregularity can provoke an arousal effect in listeners. The authors also argue that the RT paradigm provides a useful tool for clarifying some of the factors involved in alarm processing.

Effectiveness of Bimodal Versus Unimodal Alerts for Distracted Drivers

“…Results are equivocal from the limited existing research. For example, Suied, Susini, and McAdams (2008) and Haas and Casali (1995) both found negative correlations between perceived urgency and response time. Suied et al also found that response time decreased as the time between auditory pulses decreased, though they caution that the underlying mechanisms involved may be unrelated.…”

Why are natural sounds detected faster than pips?

“…Four sounds were tested in each category. For the classical warning sounds, we used the same template for the stimuli as in our companion paper (Suied et al, 2008). The template for the different stimuli was an isochronous sequence of short pulses.…”

“…Loudness equalization was performed on the eight stimuli to avoid any RT differences due to loudness differences (see Chocholle, 1940;Suied et al, 2008). A group of nine other listeners participated in this preliminary experiment.…”

“…In a companion study (Suied et al, 2008), we have shown the advantages of an objective measurement [reaction time (RT)] to assess correctly the level of urgency of a sound.…”

Cell phone ringtone, but not landline phone ringtone, affects complex reaction time

“…Some authors have already focused on the importance of distinctive parameters of sounds. Suied evaluated the influence of some acoustic parameters on reaction time [18]. Edworthy et al [19], suggested that improvement of existing auditory warning systems can be done by 'fitting' some acoustic parameters to specific needs.…”