Designing Auditory Warnings for Preventing Arousal-Level Decline during Train Operation and Examining its Effectiveness and Practicality

Hoshino Kei, Suzuki Ayako, Honda Masahiro, Hara Takeshi

doi:10.11184/his.24.4_215

Train driving is characterized by late-night and early-morning shifts when operators may be prone to drowsiness. This study developed and evaluated a system aimed at maintaining and improving arousal level by presenting auditory warnings. First, auditory warnings were designed based on survey of the opinions of train operators. In preliminary experiment, designated auditory warnings were scored in terms of three conditions (“audibility,” “distinctiveness,” and “arousal function”) by impression evaluation. In Experiment 1, an auditory warning consisting of an ascending chromatic scale was selected by paired comparison method as most promising even over train noise. In Experiment 2, the arousal effects of the warning auditory selected in Experiment 1 were evaluated by presenting it during a monotonous task with the train driver environment. The result shows that reaction time and facial expression evaluation level in the task was significantly improved. In addition, the decrease of heart rate and high score on subjective evaluation of the arousal effect of the auditory warning were confirmed. Furthermore, the effect of the auditory warning for preventing arousal-level decline during train operation was confirmed.

Designing Auditory Warnings for Preventing Arousal-Level Decline during Train Operation and Examining its Effectiveness and Practicality

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