Abstract
Audio displays have the capability to off-load the oversaturated visual channel for completing multiple tasks simultaneously. The challenge is designing audio symbology to portray complex information, and knowing how long to train people so they can effectively transfer the meaning of the information to the task at hand. This study evaluated two audio symbology sets and four training sessions to determine the most effective way of incorporating audio information into an aircraft task. The audio symbology varied by 1) localizing the audio information in both azimuth and elevation, and 2) localizing the audio information in azimuth and changing the tonal quality of the audio information to represent elevation. Training and feedback sessions were interspersed with the data collection sessions to increase the amount of training participants received over time. Results showed that changing the tonal quality to represent elevation information was significantly more effective than using localized elevation audio information. Interestingly, there was no significant difference in performance when varying the amount of training.
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