Comparison of Speech and Pictorial Displays in a Cockpit Environment

Abstract

A current trend in cockpit design is to incorporate synthesized speech to present secondary information. Multiple-resource theories of information processing support this, but theories of stimulus/central-processing/response compatibility suggest that spatial information presented visually may have some advantages over speech if the response is manual. Two experiments compare response performance over single and dual tasks when information was presented pictorially and by speech. Pictorial subjects responded more quickly than did speech subjects. The addition of the visual tracking task in the dual-task condition had a differential effect on performance, depending on the modality of the primary task and the rate at which information was presented. The dual task impeded performance more in the fast and medium presentation rates for the speech condition but had little differential effect across rates for the pictorial condition. Analysis of the error data indicated that subjects in the pictorial condition were better able to maintain the context of the emergency than those in the speech condition. Results are discussed in terms of current theories of information processing.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bainbridge, L. (1974). Analysis of verbal protocols from a control task. In E. Edwards and F. P. Lees (Eds.), The human operator in process control (pp. 146-158). New York: Halsted Press.

Bower, G. H. , Clark, C. C. , Lesgold, A. M. , and Winzenz, C. (1969). Hierarchical retrieval schemes in recall of categorized word lists. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 8, 323–343.

Butler, R. , Manaker, E. , and Obert-Thorn, W. (1981). Investigation of a voice synthesis system for the F-14 aircraft (ACT-81–001). Warminster, PA: Naval Air Development Center.

Eberts, R. E. , and Schneider, W. (1985). Internalizing the system dynamics for a second-order system. Human Factors, 27, 371–393.

Goodstein, L. P. (1980). Discriminative displays support for process operators. In J. Rasmussen and W. B. Rouse (Eds.), Human detection and diagnosis of system failures (pp. 433–449). New York: Plenum.

Hawkins, J. S. , Reising, J. M. , Lizza, G. D. , and Beachy, K. A. (1983). Is a picture worth a 1000 words— Written or spoken? In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 27th Annual Meeting (pp. 970–972). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors Society.

Hollan, J. , Stevens, A. , and Williams, M. (1980, August). STEAMER: An advanced computer-assisted instruction system for propulsion engineering. Paper presented at the Summer Simulation Conference, Seattle, WA.

Mandler, G. (1968). Association and organization: Facts, fancies, and theories. In T. R. Dixon and D. L. Horton (Eds.), Verbal behavior and general behavior theory (pp. 109–119). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Mozeico, H. (1982). A human/computer interface to accommodate user learning stages. Communications of the ACM, 25, 100–104.

10.

Powers, M. , Lashley, C. , Sanchez, P. , and Shneiderman, B. (1984). An experimental comparison of tabular and graphic data presentation. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 3, 61–73.

11.

Rasmussen, J. (1980). Models of mental strategies in process control. In J. Rasmussen and W. B. Rouse (Eds.), Human detection and diagnosis of system failures (pp. 241–258). New York: Plenum.

12.

Robinson, C. P. (1984). A comparison of pictorial and speech warning messages in the modern cockpit. Unpublished master's thesis, School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

13.

Sharit, J. (1985). Supervisory control of a flexible manufacturing system. Human Factors, 27, 47–59.

14.

Simpson, C. A. , and Marchionda-Frost, K. (1984). Synthesized speech rate and pitch effects on intelligibility of warning messages for pilots. Human Factors, 26, 509–517.

15.

Simpson, C. A. , McCauley, M. E. , Roland, E. F. , Ruth, J. C. , and Williges, B. H. (1985). System design for speech recognition and generation. Human Factors, 27, 115–141.

16.

Stern, K. R. (1984). An evaluation of written, graphics, and voice messages in proceduralized instructions. In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 28th Annual Meeting (pp. 314–318). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors Society.

17.

Tullis, T. S. (1981). An Evaluation of alphanumeric, graphic, and color information displays. Human Factors, 23, 541–550.

18.

Wickens, C. D. (1980). The structure of attentional resources. In R. Nickerson (Ed.), Attention and performance (Vol. VIII) (pp. 239–257). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Erlbaum.

19.

Wickens, C. D. (1984). Engineering psychology and human performance. Columbus, OH: Merrill.

20.

Wickens, C. D. , Mountford, S. J. , and Schreiner, W. (1981). Multiple resources, task-hemispheric integrity, and individual differences in time-sharing. Human Factors, 23, 211–229.

21.

Wickens, C. D. , Sandry, D. L. , and Vidulich, M. (1983). Compatibility and resource competition between modalities of input, central processing, and output. Human Factors, 25, 227–248.

22.

Wickens, C. D. , and Weingartner, A. (1985). Process control monitoring: The effects of spatial and verbal ability and concurrent task demand. In R. E. Eberts and C. G. Eberts (Eds.), Trends in ergonomics/human factors II (pp. 25–32). Amsterdam: North-Holland.

23.

Wicker, J. E. (1980). Some human factors aspects of a real-time voice-interactive system in the single-scat fighter aircraft. In Proceedings of the Voice Interactive Systems Society: Applications and Payoffs (pp. 265–275). Dallas: Voice Interactive Systems Society.

24.

Williamson, D. , and Curry, D. (1984, May). Voice I/O effectiveness under heavy task loading. Journal of the American Voice IIO Society, 1, pp. 12–23.