Do auditory messages favour response accuracy to variable message signs?
Marina Pi-Ruano, Javier Roca, and Pilar Tejero
(ERI Lectura, Universitat de València)
Variable message signs (VMS) inform about relevant traffic events that may not be properly processed due to adverse traffic (e.g., fog) or personal conditions (e.g., advanced age). There is some evidence that the acquisition of information from in-vehicle traffic systems could be better with bimodal (auditory & visual) than with unimodal message presentations, and also that drivers might prefer an auditory to a visual presentation, at least for guidance messages. In a previous experiment, drivers had to classify the messages displayed on VMS along a route that was completed twice: one with text VMS (visual condition), and another one with text VMS plus complementary audio messages (audio+visual) condition). The results showed that the participants were more likely to correctly identify the message on a VMS when a complementary auditory version of the message was additionally provided. S. In the current study, we analysed whether such advantage was still significant when drivers were released from manual control of the vehicle. A matched sample of 18 drivers participated in a new driving simulator experiment. Importantly, in the current experiment, participants used the autonomous mode, instead of manual driving. Results across both experiments showed better accuracy responses and safer response distances in the audio+visual condition. Thus, anticipated auditory messages may help drivers process traffic messages, even when using an autonomous vehicle and thus driving subtasks are not competing with visual resources.
Bio
Marina Pi Ruano is BS in Psychology and a PhD student of the Doctoral Programme in Reading and Comprehension at the ERI-Lectura (Universitat de València), with a predoctoral grant from the Generalitat Valenciana and the European Social Fund, as researcher training. Her line of research deals with the ergonomics of the reading of traffic signs in standard drivers.
