Non-Verbal Auditory Warnings in Avionics Application
Air traffic continues to increase and there is a concern that aircraft accident and incident rates will also rise. Combine this with ever increasing automation technology, often itself introduced for safety purposes, and the results inevitably lead to an increase in the number of required cockpit warnings. The design of auditory warnings in particular is an important consideration in both civil and military aircraft. Two experiments are reported here: one which considers the role of traditional nonverbal, auditory warnings while the other investigates the concept of a non-verbal, background, auditory environment. It is concluded that non-verbal auditory warnings are useful, but there may also be some benefit in having a background ‘soundscape’ within the cockpit.