An Application of Auditory Alarm Research in the Design of Warning Sounds for an Integrated Tower Air Traffic Control Computer System

Abstract

Auditory alarms are often determined by different manufacturers in isolation without any guidelines or standards. The result is an environment filled with inconsistent, confusing, meaningless, and often annoying alarm sounds. Such factors have been considered in the design of a Tower Air Traffic Control computer system (referred to as TCCC) currently under contract with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which will serve to integrate and standardize the various systems in the tower. One of the many benefits of this new automation will be that the warning sounds in use today will be replaced with standard, ergonomically designed alarm sounds. This paper follows the process the authors used in constructing TCCC auditory alarms, combining a detailed analysis of the common problems associated with auditory alarms with a review of alarm construction theories and standards. The results of this process, the proposed TCCC auditory alarm attributes, are then presented.

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