Do auditory simulations of noise-induced hearing loss change young adults\u27 attitudes towards noise exposure?

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), or hearing damage from regular exposure to loud noise, can profoundly affect a person\u27s hearing capabilities and overall well-being. Many individuals continue to expose themselves to hazardous levels of noise, and, in turn, put themselves at risk of developing a NIHL. This review critically examines the existing literature presented on NIHL. Emphasis is placed on the increasing prevalence of NIHL in young adults from exposure to loud recreational noise. The effectiveness of current educational strategies that have been employed to reduce or prevent the occurrence of NIHL in this cohort is also examined. Research indicates that hearing conservation programs have generally been ineffective in encouraging healthier attitudes and behaviours towards the prevention of NIHL in young adults. Perhaps this is because most strategies have not allowed people to experience what a hearing loss feels and sounds like. A preliminary study by Brew (2005) investigated the effectiveness of audio simulations of hearing loss and tinnitus as a way to enhance the efficacy of an educational hearing campaign in young adults. Several methodological problems in the Brew (2005) study may have mitigated any significant improvements in participants\u27 attitudes and behaviours. Given the potential benefits for audio simulations to convey a realistic experience of the dangers inherent with prolonged noise exposure, implications for future research are discussed. Brew (2005) investigated the effectiveness of audio simulations of hearing loss and tinnitus as a strategy for promoting healthier attitudes and behaviours towards noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in young adults. Several methodological problems in Brew\u27s (2005) study may have mitigated any significant improvements being found in participants\u27 attitudes and behaviours. This study addressed these limitations to examine whether audio simulations together with an educational hearing message are more effective in improving young adults\u27 attitudes, motivations, intentions, and fears towards NIHL compared to an education-only message without simulations. In Experiment 1, forty-five participants were randomly assigned to a Simulation, Education, or Control presentation. Participants completed a survey exploring their attitudes and behaviours towards NIHL pre- and post-presentation. An ANOVA conducted on the data revealed no significant improvements in the Simulation groups\u27 motivations, attitudes, intentions, and fears towards NIHL compared to the Education group, though the results were in the anticipated direction. However, potential limitations regarding the insensitivity of the Likert scale used to measure changes in people\u27s responses may have mitigated any significant effects being found. The purpose of Experiment 2 was to employ a more sensitive measurement procedure for directly comparing the effectiveness of the Simulation versus the Education group. Ten different participants viewed both the Simulation and Education presentations, followed by completing a survey asking which presentation was more effective. Chi-square analyses conducted on the data found that a significant proportion (90%) of participants selected the Simulation presentation as being more effective in improving their motivations, attitudes, intentions, and fears towards NIHL compared to the Education presentation. The results confirmed the effectiveness of including audio simulations as an alternative educational strategy for significantly augmenting the persuasiveness of a hearing conservation message

Warning a Distracted Driver: Smart Phone Applications, Informative Warnings and Automated Driving Take-Over Requests

abstract: While various collision warning studies in driving have been conducted, only a handful of studies have investigated the effectiveness of warnings with a distracted driver. Across four experiments, the present study aimed to understand the apparent gap in the literature of distracted drivers and warning effectiveness, specifically by studying various warnings presented to drivers while they were operating a smart phone. Experiment One attempted to understand which smart phone tasks, (text vs image) or (self-paced vs other-paced) are the most distracting to a driver. Experiment Two compared the effectiveness of different smartphone based applications (app’s) for mitigating driver distraction. Experiment Three investigated the effects of informative auditory and tactile warnings which were designed to convey directional information to a distracted driver (moving towards or away). Lastly, Experiment Four extended the research into the area of autonomous driving by investigating the effectiveness of different auditory take-over request signals. Novel to both Experiment Three and Four was that the warnings were delivered from the source of the distraction (i.e., by either the sound triggered at the smart phone location or through a vibration given on the wrist of the hand holding the smart phone). This warning placement was an attempt to break the driver’s attentional focus on their smart phone and understand how to best re-orient the driver in order to improve the driver’s situational awareness (SA). The overall goal was to explore these novel methods of improved SA so drivers may more quickly and appropriately respond to a critical event.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Applied Psychology 201

Inventory of ATT system requirements for elderly and disabled drivers and travellers

This Inventory of ATT System Requirements for Elderly and Disabled Drivers and Travellers is the product of the TELSCAN project’s Workpackage 3: Identification and Updating of User Requirements of Elderly and Disabled Travellers. It describes the methods and tools used to identify the needs of elderly and disabled (E&D) travellers. The result of this investigation is a summary of the requirements of elderly and disabled travellers using different modes of transport, including private cars, buses/trams, metros/trains, ships and airplanes. It provides a generic user requirements specification which can guide the design of all transport telematics systems. However, it is important to stress that projects should also capture a more detailed definition of user requirements for their specific application area or system

Technology News, April-June 2017

Technology News is a newsletter produced by the Iowa Department of Transportation to provide information to the transportation specialist in Iowa's cities and counties. Technology News is one of CTRE's primary avenues for exchanging transportation-related information with local agencies. The bimonthly newsletter gives an up-to-date look to the up-to-date information our 2,500+ readers have grown to expect

Emergency Communication for Deaf and Hard of Hearing

This project, motivated partly by the recent bushfires, was prepared in cooperation with the Victorian Deaf Society in Melbourne, Australia to evaluate the effectiveness of Victoria\u27s emergency communication system for the Deaf and hard of hearing. The project team compared emergency communication systems in Australia with those of other countries, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. We conducted onsite interviews and surveys with the Deaf and hard of hearing of Victoria and contacted other important stakeholders. Then, we proposed recommendations to the Victorian Deaf Society aimed to help implement changes that would better alert the Deaf and hard of hearing during emergencies

Public Education about Occupant Protection Technologies and Protecting Occupants with Disabilities

Occupant protection is the foundation of any traffic safety program. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates, improvements in vehicle safety have helped increase the number of lives saved annually from 115 in 1960 to 27,621 in 2012. Therefore, educating drivers about advanced new technologies in vehicle occupant protection is very important. However, these technologies are not useful or efficient unless drivers are aware of them and use them accordingly. The purpose of this project was first to comprehensively review all the technologies related to occupant protection and also all the technologies related to occupant protection for people with disabilities using all available websites and related articles. Overall, 26 active safety technologies and 8 passive safety technologies were found regarding general occupant protection technologies. Also, 19 technologies were found related to occupant protection for people with disabilities. Another goal of this project was to promote a culture of safety through public education and training about occupant protection technologies, especially for people with disabilities. To reach this goal, two educational webinars about available technologies that protect occupants and people with disabilities were held. In both webinars, the research team tried to emphasize the importance of occupant protection by providing facts about the safety of passengers and drivers during a crash and the potential severity of injuries. The first webinar was held on April 15, 2022. The general occupant protection technologies in this webinar were categorized into two main categories: 1. Active Safety Technologies (e.g., Blind Sport Detection, Forward Collision Warning, etc.); and 2. Passive Safety Technologies (e.g., Airbags, Seatbelts, Belt bags, Child Safety Seats, etc.). In the end, a summary of the technologies was presented to the audience. Moreover, a section was dedicated to Q&A with the audience. Overall, 24 people joined the webinar. Some of the audience expressed their feelings about learning more about \u201cchild safety seats\u201d and other new safety technologies. Moreover, some participants mentioned that the webinar introduced them to new technologies such as backseat airbags, belt bags, and turn assist. Moreover, to educate Maryland drivers about the advantages of new occupant protection technologies, an informative fact sheet was developed by the research team and distributed online and through social media. The second webinar was held on September 16, 2022, and focused on occupant protection technologies for people with disabilities. The first section of the webinar was a review of all the general occupant protection technologies that were presented in the first webinar. The second part of the webinar was about occupant protection for people with disabilities. First, some facts about the challenges that people with disabilities face in transportation were mentioned. Then, occupant protection technologies for people with disabilities were categorized into four main sections: 1. Safety Technologies for Visual Impairment Drivers (e.g., bioptic glasses, AV cars, etc.); 2. Safety Technologies for Hearing Impairment Drivers (Audio-Tactile Conversion, Audio-Visual Conversion, etc.); 3. Safety Technologies for Physical Impairment Drivers (hand controls, steering, handicap accessible vehicles, etc.); and 4. Smartphone Applications that Help Drivers with Disabilities (e.g., Wheelmap, FuelService, etc.). In the end, a summary of all the technologies was presented to the audience. Again, a section was dedicated to Q&A with the audience. Overall, 44 people joined the webinar. Some of the audience expressed their feelings about learning more in-depth about \u201cWaymo AV cars\u201d and some additional new safety technologies

Integrating passive ubiquitous surfaces into human-computer interaction

Mobile technologies enable people to interact with computers ubiquitously. This dissertation investigates how ordinary, ubiquitous surfaces can be integrated into human-computer interaction to extend the interaction space beyond the edge of the display. It turns out that acoustic and tactile features generated during an interaction can be combined to identify input events, the user, and the surface. In addition, it is shown that a heterogeneous distribution of different surfaces is particularly suitable for realizing versatile interaction modalities. However, privacy concerns must be considered when selecting sensors, and context can be crucial in determining whether and what interaction to perform.Mobile Technologien ermöglichen den Menschen eine allgegenwärtige Interaktion mit Computern. Diese Dissertation untersucht, wie gewöhnliche, allgegenwärtige Oberflächen in die Mensch-Computer-Interaktion integriert werden können, um den Interaktionsraum über den Rand des Displays hinaus zu erweitern. Es stellt sich heraus, dass akustische und taktile Merkmale, die während einer Interaktion erzeugt werden, kombiniert werden können, um Eingabeereignisse, den Benutzer und die Oberfläche zu identifizieren. Darüber hinaus wird gezeigt, dass eine heterogene Verteilung verschiedener Oberflächen besonders geeignet ist, um vielfältige Interaktionsmodalitäten zu realisieren. Bei der Auswahl der Sensoren müssen jedoch Datenschutzaspekte berücksichtigt werden, und der Kontext kann entscheidend dafür sein, ob und welche Interaktion durchgeführt werden soll