The Effect of Auditory and Visual Distracters on the Useful Field of View: Implications for the Driving Task

Abstract

Visual and auditory distracters reduce the extent of the useful field of view, and these effects are exacerbated in inferior and peripheral locations. This result has significant ramifications for road safety in an increasingly complex in-vehicle and driving environment.

The effect of auditory distraction on the useful field of view in hearing impaired individuals and its implications for driving

“…Data presented by Wood et al (2006) agrees, showing that the concurrent performance of an auditory task resulted in more perceptual errors being made in the visual field. They argued that their finding had implications for safe driving.…”

“…Although it cannot be directly inferred from the results of Hickson et al (2010), this finding corresponds with research showing an effect of auditory distraction on the 'useful field of view': "the visual field area over which information can be acquired in a brief glance without eye or head movements" (Edwards et al 2006 p.275). This research suggests that the useful field of view is reduced when a cognitively engaging auditory task is being simultaneously undertaken (Wood et al 2006), and that this is likely to be more marked the more challenging the auditory task becomes (Pomplun et al 2001). Because hearing impairment is thought to increase the cognitive demands of listening (Shinn-Cunningham and Best 2008), the current study hypothesised that hearing impaired individuals should experience an even greater reduction in their useful field of view than normally hearing individuals whilst engaged in an auditory task.…”

“…Therefore, it is important to assess the effect of distraction on tasks relevant to driving in hearing impaired individuals, so that any detrimental effects can be identified and interventions can be devised, should there be a need for them. The aim of this study was to extend the findings of Wood et al (2006) by establishing whether hearing loss exacerbates the effect that auditory distraction has on the performance of UFOV, as they found for normally hearing subjects.…”

“…This task was chosen because such a dichotic listening task that requires a response has been shown to affect the span of visual search (Wood et al 2006). Furthermore, the test provides a level of face validity for driving under certain circumstances (e.g.…”

“…The effect of auditory distraction on UFOV is likely to be exacerbated in hearing impaired individuals, as hearing loss places an extra cognitive demand on listening (Shinn-Cunningham and Best 2008), essentially increasing the difficulty of the auditory task. However, this is yet to be empirically investigated; Atchley & Dressel (2004) and Wood et al (2006) only studied individuals with normal hearing.…”