Heterogeneity in auditory alarm sets makes them easier to learn

• Published in: International journal of industrial ergonomics Vol. 41; no. 2; pp. 136 - 146
• Main Authors: Edworthy, Judy, Hellier, Elizabeth, Titchener, Kirsteen, Naweed, Anjum, Roels, Richard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-03-2011; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Alarm systems; Alarms; Audiology; Auditory warnings; Design; Effectiveness; Envelopes; Ergonomics; Heterogeneity; Human performance; Learning; Design; Learning; Alarms; Auditory warnings
• ISSN: 0169-8141; 1872-8219
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ergon.2010.12.004

The primary objective of the experiments reported here was to demonstrate the effects of opening up the design envelope for auditory alarms on the ability of people to learn the meanings of a set of alarms. Two sets of alarms were tested, one already extant and one newly-designed set for the same set of functions, designed according to a rationale set out by the authors aimed at increasing the heterogeneity of the alarm set and incorporating some well-established principles of alarm design. For both sets of alarms, a similarity-rating experiment was followed by a learning experiment. The results showed that the newly-designed set was judged to be more internally dissimilar, and easier to learn, than the extant set. The design rationale outlined in the paper is useful for design purposes in a variety of practical domains and shows how alarm designers, even at a relatively late stage in the design process, can improve the efficacy of an alarm set.
► People's ability to learn a large set of alarms can be enhanced by making the alarms as different from one another as the design remit will allow. ► Differences between alarm sounds can be achieved by ensuring that they have different temporal patterns. ► There are a range of types of sounds which can be used as alarms, and using more than one type of sound will enhance learnability. For example, using a small number of auditory icons (sounds which have an intuitive link to their function) will enhance the learnability of a set of auditory alarms. ► The more similar alarms are judged to be to one another, the more likely it is that they will be difficult to learn. ► Improving the learnability of a set of alarms can be improved even at an advanced stage of design by applying known auditory alarm principles to those alarms.