(Press-News.org) During command and control operations, military personnel are frequently exposed to extreme auditory overload – essentially bombarded by multiple messages coming from radio networks, loudspeakers, and live voices in an environment also filled with high-level noise from weapons and vehicles.
Adding a visual cue, such as texting, was explored by a team of researchers in Canada as a way to overcome this problem. Sharon Abel, defense scientist at Defence Research and Development Canada, will present her team's findings at the 21st International Congress on Acoustics (ICA 2013), held June 2-7 in Montreal.
"In military operations, it's critical that messages be monitored, encoded, responded to and relayed accurately, in a timely manner, to ensure situational awareness, personal safety, and mission success," explains Abel.
To test the value of adding a visual cue to the mix, the researchers ran two experiments. First, they investigated the benefit of using visual cues to direct the listener's attention to an audio channel delivering a target message. Inside a mock-up military land vehicle, participants were exposed to multiple messages over right and left earphones via headset, and loudspeakers. Variables included a background of quiet or vehicle noise, with and without babble noise that modeled surrounding conversations, and with and without visual cues.
For their second experiment, the team tested the benefits of instant messaging as a supplement to audio presentation of information by asking participants to engage in two tasks simultaneously. Participants listened to pairs of phrases in right and left headset earphones, while at the same time they had to decide whether or not simple math equations—presented over a loudspeaker, as a text message, or both—were correct.
"Participants had no difficulty responding to messages presented over the headset, although, there was a right ear advantage," Abel says. "We discovered that messages presented over a loudspeaker in noise were more difficult to understand. But a visual cue directing attention and text messaging resulted in significant improvements in performance. Our findings suggest that the use of the visual system is a viable supplement for communication in cases of auditory overload or degraded listening."
While the team's findings are particularly relevant for military operations, they may also prove quite useful to a diverse range of civilian trades that involve processing auditory information from multiple sources—such as air traffic control, office management, and group tutorials.
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Presentation 1pNSa3, "Supplemental text messaging for the resolution of auditory overload," is in the afternoon session on Monday, June 3. Abstract: http://asa.aip.org/web2/asa/abstracts/search.jun13/asa206.html
ABOUT DRDC
Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) is the national leader in defense and security science and technology. As an agency of Canada's Department of National Defence (DND), DRDC provides DND, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), and other government departments as well as the public safety and national security communities the knowledge and technological advantage needed to defend and protect Canada's interests at home and abroad.
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We will grant free registration to credentialed journalists and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend, contact Jason Bardi (jbardi@aip.org, 240-535-4954), who can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.
This news release was prepared for the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world's leading journal on acoustics), Acoustics Today magazine, ECHOES newsletter, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. For more information about ASA, visit our website at http://www.acousticalsociety.org.
Texting proves beneficial in auditory overload situations
2013-05-31
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