Aurally Aided Visual Threat Acquisition in a Virtual Urban Battlespace

Eric Robinson, Brian Simpson, Victor Finomore, Jeffery Cowgill, Valerie L. Shalin, Andrew Hampton, Thomas Moore, Terry Rapoch, Robert Gilkey

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Many of today’s military operations take place in large urban environments, which present unique challenges due to limited line of sight and increased concealment for enemy forces. This experiment evaluated the potential of a 3D audio display to aid threat detection and localization in a complex visual environment. Subjects rode as part of a convoy through a simulated city where they encountered snipers surrounded by distracting personnel. We compared 3D audio cues to verbal descriptions of the sniper’s location and to simple audio warnings of the presence of a sniper. Consistent with past research, subjects located the sniper more quickly in the 3D audio condition compared to both the semantic description and simple warning conditions. The 3D audio display was faster than the other displays across all azimuths but, in contrast to previous findings, the advantage did not increase consistently with increasing azimuth.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting
PublisherSAGE Publications
Pages1471-1475
Number of pages5
Volume56
ISBN (Print)9780945289418
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012
Event56th Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting - Boston, United States
Duration: Oct 22 2012Oct 26 2012
Conference number: 54

Conference

Conference56th Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting
Abbreviated titleHFES 2012
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston
Period10/22/1210/26/12

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Human Factors and Ergonomics

Keywords

  • Virtual battlespace

Disciplines

  • Psychology

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