Abstract
If the input from the visual system is unavailable (e.g., damage to the optic nerves or smoke in a burning building), navigating and avoiding obstacles becomes very challenging. It is therefore desirable to develop a navigation aide for use where visual input has become unavailable. There is a small body of research concerning such navigation aides and their efficacy. However, many issues that may have serious human factors repercussions for such a system are unexplored. This study was conducted in order to examine the effect of an attentionally demanding distractor task on wayfinding performance with an audio only navigation aide, in this case the System for Wearable Audio Navigation (SWAN). A difficult secondary speech task reduced efficiency in navigation, as users switched attentional resources to the speech task. Practical applications are discussed.
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