Learning and Retention of Associations Between Auditory Icons and Denotative Referents: Implications for the Design of Auditory Warnings

Stephan, Karen; Smith, Sean E.; Martin, Russell L.; Parker, Simon; McAnally, Ken I.

doi:10.1518/001872006777724426

Cited by 36 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The potential use of VAS displays to help humans maintain spatial awareness was a primary motivator for this study, as the ability of operators to keep track of the locations of multiple sources of sound will need to be known for VAS displays to be effective for this purpose. Our use in this study of readily identified, environmental sounds ensured that target sounds could be nominated without ambiguity and is consistent with the proposed incorporation of such sounds in potential VAS-display applications (e.g., Stephan et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Memory for the locations of environmental sounds

Martin

Flanagan

McAnally

et al. 2011

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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The accuracy with which a single source of sound can be localized has been examined in many studies, but very few studies have examined the ability of participants to determine the absolute locations of multiple sources of sound. The current study assessed participants' abilities to determine and remember the locations of up to six sources of environmental sound that were positioned at a range of azimuths and elevations in virtual auditory space. In experiment 1, a sequence of one to six sounds was presented one, three, or five times in each trial and the target sound was nominated following presentation of the last sequence. In experiment 2, memory load was held constant by nominating the target sound prior to a single sequence presentation. Localization accuracy was observed to decrease as the number of sounds was increased to three or more under the conditions of experiment 1, but not those of experiment 2. In experiment 1, localization was more accurate when sequences were presented more than once. Pronounced primacy and recency effects were observed for the six sound conditions in experiment 1. An analysis of errors for those conditions indicated that immediate temporal errors, but not immediate spatial errors, were over-represented.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Memory for the locations of environmental sounds

Martin

Flanagan

McAnally

et al. 2011

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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“…This is achieved by the alarm sound being a metaphor for the function it is describing. 'Good' metaphors (an interesting question of itself) can lead to very quick recognition needing only one or two exposures to the sound (Belz et al, 1999;Edworthy, Page et al, 2014;Graham, 1999;Leung et al 1997;Perry, Stevens et al 2007;Stephan et al, 2006;Ulfvengren, 2003). One of our goals in designing prototype sets of alarm sounds is to move on from small-scale tweaking of tonal alarm sounds (and consequently small-scale tweaking of the standard) which generally achieve only small improvements, to sets of alarm sounds which can be learned after very brief exposure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Recognizability and Localizability of Auditory Alarms: Setting Global Medical Device Standards

et al. 2017

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Objective: Four sets of eight audible alarms matching the functions specified in IEC 60601-1-8 (2012) were designed using known principles from auditory cognition, with the intention that they would be more recognizable and localizable than those currently specified in the standard. Background:The audible alarms associated with IEC 60601-1-(2012), a global medical device standard, are known to be difficult to learn and retain, and there have been many calls to update them. There are known principles of design and cognition which might form the basis of more readily recognizable alarms. There is also scope for improvement in the localizability of the existing alarms.Method: Four alternative sets of alarms matched to the functions specified in IEC 60601-1-8 (2012) were tested for recognizability and localizability, and compared with the alarms currently specified in the standard Results: With a single exception, all prototype sets of alarms outperformed the current IEC set on both recognizability and localizability. Within the prototype sets, 'auditory icons' were the most easily recognized, but the other sets, using word rhythms and simple acoustic metaphors, were also more easily recognized than the current alarms. With the exception of one set, all prototype sets were also easier to localize. Conclusion:Known auditory cognition and perception principles were successfully applied to a known audible alarm problem Application: This work constitutes the first (benchmarking) phase of replacing the alarms currently specified in the standard. The design principles used for each set demonstrates the Medical audible alarms 3 relative ease with which different alarm types can be recognized and localized.Keywords: audition; auditory displays; learning; medical device technologies Precis: Four sets of audible alarms matched to the functions specified in IEC 60601-1-8, a global medical device standard, were designed using known principles of successful audible alarm design. When tested for recognizability and localizability, all sets (with one exception for localizability) outperformed the current alarms specified in the standard. This work represents the first phase of updating the alarms specified in that standard

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“…They however noted, that usage of cell phone or other linguistic activities that happen during driving reduce the usefulness of verbal warning signals. Previous studies indicate auditory icons with solid connections to their referents initiate quick accurate reactions than abstract arbitrary sounds in laboratory research settings (Keller & Stevens, 2004;McKeown & Isherwood, 2007;Perry, Stevens, Wiggins, & Howell, 2007;Stephan, Smith, Martin, Parker, & McAnally, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aging effect on detectability, criticality and urgency under various auditory conditions

Ghosh

Lockhart

Liu

2015

Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviou

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Learning and Retention of Associations Between Auditory Icons and Denotative Referents: Implications for the Design of Auditory Warnings

Abstract: The practical implication of this study is that auditory icons having either direct or strong, indirect associations with warning events should be preferred.

Cited by 36 publications

References 21 publications

Memory for the locations of environmental sounds

Memory for the locations of environmental sounds

The Recognizability and Localizability of Auditory Alarms: Setting Global Medical Device Standards

Aging effect on detectability, criticality and urgency under various auditory conditions

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