Effekter av rumsliga placeringar av ljudsignaler på simulerad bilkörning

In todays car environment we are surrounded by more and more information that compete for our attention and sound have been proven to be an effective way to alert a driver of dangerous situations. But could spatial placement of sound signals also be used to draw the drivers attention to certain events in an effective way? A theoretical study was made on human ability to locate an auditory event and how to design a sound signal for acceptable localisation. Our two most important cues for localisation are interaural time difference and interaural intensity difference, cues that allow good localisation of an auditory event in the horizontal plane. A sound signal should have a wide frequency range and have at least 500 ms duration time. The car simulation software Lane Change Test was controlled with a PC-steering wheel and gas pedal. The subjects primary task was to change lane according to signs along the track. A secondary task was used to distract the driver. Sound sources were placed in 4 different positions and adjusted to the same sound pressure level. The sound signal for the primary task was designed to be similar to a turn signal while the secondary task used a notification sound from Microsoft Windows™.The project contained one pre-test and one main test. The pre-test had 7 spatial positions of sound signals and was attended by 4 subjects. No significant effects were found. Therefore, the number of spatial positions was lowered down to 4 for the main test and the test was attended by 6 subjects and the speed was increased to make the test more challenging. Each subject took the test 3 times which gave a total of 54 results for each spatial position. The results show that sound signals significantly improve the response time on the secondary task while the driving performance was only significantly improved in one case, when the sound signal originated from the visual tasks position. The conclusion is that sound signals are most effective when they originate from the position of the event.Validerat; 20120923 (anonymous