Sonification and Reliability - Implications for Signal Design

Abstract

Sonifications of complex data streams represent a new way for task designers to convey important information to task operators. In recent years, researchers have applied sonification technology in a variety of task domains, including medical device monitoring, complex task instruction, and visualization of data streams and sets. The use of sonifications as emergency signals has been suggested as a way to convey continuous task state information to operators. However, researchers have focused mostly on acoustic properties of sonifications, and have not considered operator trust of them. Past research has shown predictable operator trust-driven reactions to conventional alarms. It is necessary to extend such investigations to sonifications, so that designers may know whether sonifications might represent a technological solution to foster more rapid and appropriate real-time trust calibration by task operators. In this paper, we describe prior research with alarm mistrust, and highlight the potential benefits of further research combining signal reliability and sonification.