Earconsampler: a tool for designing emotional auditory driver-vehicle interfaces

Presented at the 15th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD2009), Copenhagen, Denmark, May 18-22, 2009EarconSampler is a simple tool for designing and modifying auditory driver-vehicle interfaces. It allows for creating melodic patterns of wav-snippets and easy adjustment of parameters such as tempo and pitch. It also contains an analysis section where sound quality parameters, urgency and emotional response to the sound is calculated / predicted, so that the user directly can see how a certain parameter affects perception and emotional response

Assessing the impact of typeface design in a text-rich automotive user interface

Text-rich driver–vehicle interfaces are increasingly common in new vehicles, yet the effects of different typeface characteristics on task performance in this brief off-road based glance context remains sparsely examined. Subjects completed menu selection tasks while in a driving simulator. Menu text was set either in a ‘humanist’ or ‘square grotesque’ typeface. Among men, use of the humanist typeface resulted in a 10.6% reduction in total glance time as compared to the square grotesque typeface. Total response time and number of glances showed similar reductions. The impact of typeface was either more modest or not apparent for women. Error rates for both males and females were 3.1% lower for the humanist typeface. This research suggests that optimised typefaces may mitigate some interface demands. Future work will need to assess whether other typeface characteristics can be optimised to further reduce demand, improve legibility, increase usability and help meet new governmental distraction guidelines

Applying Participatory Design to Symbols for SAE Level 2 Automated Driving Systems

Automakers take the risk of designing their own symbols for adaptive cruise control (ACC) and lane centring assist (LCA), some of them even using symbols from other driving assistance systems. Doing so exposes drivers to potential confusion and poses a threat to safety. A user-centred approach allowed us to gather information on ways to design intuitive symbols for users of automated vehicles. We invited drivers to a participatory design workshop to ideate and review existing symbols used for ACC and LCA. Here, we report our first step towards the development of recommendations for the design of driver-vehicle interfaces (DVI) of SAE level 2 and 3 systems

Using Microworlds to Design Intelligent Interfaces that Minimize Driver Distraction

While recent developments in telematics have produced great interest in driverdistraction, this is hardly a new topic. An early UMTRI report (Treat, 1980)defined internal distraction as a diversion of attention from the driving task that iscompelled by an activity or event inside the vehicle. Based on data collected inMonroe County Indiana, Treat (1980) concluded that internal distraction was afactor in 9% of in-depth reports and 6% of on-site investigations. In the period ofdata collection (1972-1975) conversation with a passenger and increasing use ofentertainment tape decks were the major sources of distraction. Now a host ofmodern infotronic devices offers even greater opportunities for internal distraction(Kantowitz, 2000).Intelligent driver-vehicle interfaces present a wonderful opportunity tosuccessfully manage this increased in-vehicle workload. This smart interfacewould be adaptive, making dynamic allocation of function decisions in real time.Designing such an intelligent interface presents many problems. In particular,since new infotronic devices are being developed and deployed rapidly, it seemsdifficult to evaluate all these new designs. This chapter focuses upon usingmicroworlds to swiftly assess effects of in-vehicle infotronics upon driverdistraction.Microworlds vary along several dimensions such as realism, tractability andengagement (Ehret, Gray, & Kirschbaum, 2000). The traditional drivingsimulator is only one example of a relevant microworld. By considering a widerrange of microworlds, we can gain insight into how to best utilize drivingsimulators. Issues of validity are also illuminated when considered from amicroworld perspective. If appropriate intelligent interfaces are designed,telematics should never increase driver distraction

Advanced Multimodal Solutions for Information Presentation

High-workload, fast-paced, and degraded sensory environments are the likeliest candidates to benefit from multimodal information presentation. For example, during EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity) and telerobotic operations, the sensory restrictions associated with a space environment provide a major challenge to maintaining the situation awareness (SA) required for safe operations. Multimodal displays hold promise to enhance situation awareness and task performance by utilizing different sensory modalities and maximizing their effectiveness based on appropriate interaction between modalities. During EVA, the visual and auditory channels are likely to be the most utilized with tasks such as monitoring the visual environment, attending visual and auditory displays, and maintaining multichannel auditory communications. Previous studies have shown that compared to unimodal displays (spatial auditory or 2D visual), bimodal presentation of information can improve operator performance during simulated extravehicular activity on planetary surfaces for tasks as diverse as orientation, localization or docking, particularly when the visual environment is degraded or workload is increased. Tactile displays offer a third sensory channel that may both offload information processing effort and provide a means to capture attention when urgently required. For example, recent studies suggest that including tactile cues may result in increased orientation and alerting accuracy, improved task response time and decreased workload, as well as provide self-orientation cues in microgravity on the ISS (International Space Station). An important overall issue is that context-dependent factors like task complexity, sensory degradation, peripersonal vs. extrapersonal space operations, workload, experience level, and operator fatigue tend to vary greatly in complex real-world environments and it will be difficult to design a multimodal interface that performs well under all conditions. As a possible solution, adaptive systems have been proposed in which the information presented to the user changes as a function of taskcontext-dependent factors. However, this presupposes that adequate methods for detecting andor predicting such factors are developed. Further, research in adaptive systems for aviation suggests that they can sometimes serve to increase workload and reduce situational awareness. It will be critical to develop multimodal display guidelines that include consideration of smart systems that can select the best display method for a particular contextsituation.The scope of the current work is an analysis of potential multimodal display technologies for long duration missions and, in particular, will focus on their potential role in EVA activities. The review will address multimodal (combined visual, auditory andor tactile) displays investigated by NASA, industry, and DoD (Dept. of Defense). It also considers the need for adaptive information systems to accommodate a variety of operational contexts such as crew status (e.g., fatigue, workload level) and task environment (e.g., EVA, habitat, rover, spacecraft). Current approaches to guidelines and best practices for combining modalities for the most effective information displays are also reviewed. Potential issues in developing interface guidelines for the Exploration Information System (EIS) are briefly considered

Vibrotactile Stimuli Parameters on Detection Reaction Times

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Signaling system designers are leveraging the tactile modality to create alarms, alerts, and warnings. The purpose of this research was to map detection reaction times (RT) toward tactile stimuli with various parameter manipulations. We employed a 3 (wave form) × 3 (inter-pulse interval) × 3 (envelope) within subjects design. The dependent measure was detection RT. Twenty participants (15 female) responded to 270 tactile stimuli. ANOVAs indicated three two-way interactions. Generally, shorter inter-pulse intervals led to quicker RT and the fade-in envelope led to longer RT, when compared to envelopes starting at the maximum amplitude. Square and sinusoidal waves tended to prompt quicker RT than the noise wave. The strength of these relationships, however, depended upon the presence of the other parameters. Designers can use the results of this study to effectively and appropriately assign tactile parameter manipulations to signals that require varied levels of response urgencies

Cultural differences in preference of auditory emoticons: USA and South Korea

For the last two decades, research on auditory displays and sonification has continuously increased. However, most research has focused on cognitive and functional mapping rather than emotional mapping. Moreover, there has not been much research on cultural differences on auditory displays. The present study compared user preference of auditory emoticons in two countries: USA and South Korea. Seventy students evaluated 112 auditory icons and 115 earcons regarding 30 emotional adjectives. Results indicated that they showed similar preference in the same category (auditory icons or earcons), but they showed different patterns when they were asked to select the best sound between the two categorical sounds. Implications for cultural differences in preference and directions for future design and research of auditory emoticons are discussed

Otto: An Autonomous School Bus System for Parents and Children

Technological advances in autonomous transportation systems have brought them closer to road use. However, little research is reported on children’s behavior in autonomous buses (ABs) under real road conditions and on improving parents’ trust in leaving their children alone in ABs. Thus, we aim to answer the research question: “How can we design ABs suitable for unaccompanied children so that the parents can trust them?” We conducted a study using a Wizard-of-Oz method to observe children’s behavior and interview both parents and children to examine their needs in ABs. Using an affinity diagram, we grouped children’s and parents’ needs under the following categories: entertainment, communication, personal behavior, trust and desires. Using an iterative human-centered design process, we created an Otto system, a smartphone app for parents to communicate with their children and a tablet app for children to entertain during the ride.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153797/1/chi20e-sub1381-cam-i15.pd

The Role of System Training and Exposure on Crash Warning Evaluation

This research paper explores the role that familiarity with crash warning systems has on the evaluation of those systems. Prior research has not been consistent in it treatment of providing system training and exposure to participants. The potential impact of these differences in methodology on key measures of response and outcome is unknown. Ninety-six participants completed this study that crossed system training with prior exposure to the warning to systematically evaluate these effects for both forward crash warning (FCW) and lane departure warning (LDW) systems evaluations. Prior exposure to the alerts led to changes in engagement with the distraction task for both FCW and LDW events. Training on the system influenced outcomes of the FCW events with less severe outcomes for participants who were aware they had the system. There is also evidence that driver who were aware of the system’s presence but did not have prior exposure to it were less likely to complete the experiment successfully. The results of this study point to an advantage in not provide prior system awareness training in terms of longer commitment times to allow the crash warning events to materialize when prior exposure to the alerts is provided