3D Audio Display for Pararescue Jumpers

Abstract

Visual and audio navigations aids were compared in a virtual environment that depicted an urban combat search and rescue mission (CSAR). The participants' task was to rapidly move through a virtual maze depicted in a CAVE° to find a downed pilot, while dealing with automated hostile and friendly characters. The visual and audio displays were designed to present comparable information, which in separate conditions could be a simple realtime indication of the bearing to the pilot or to intermediate waypoints along the way. Auditory displays led to faster response times than visual displays (p = .011) and the waypoint display led to faster response times than the simple bearing display (p = .002). The results are considered in the context of the target CSAR application.