Abstract
Quality care for patients requires effective communication amongst medical teams. Increasingly, communication is required not only between team members themselves, but between members and the medical devices monitoring and managing patient well-being. Most human–computer interfaces use either auditory or visual displays, and despite significant experimentation, they still elicit well-documented concerns. Curiously, few interfaces explore the benefits of multimodal communication, despite extensive documentation of the brain’s sensitivity to multimodal signals. New approaches built on insights from basic audiovisual integration research hold the potential to improve future human–computer interfaces. In particular, recent discoveries regarding the acoustic property of amplitude envelope illustrate that it can enhance audiovisual integration while also lowering annoyance. Here, we share key insights from recent research with the potential to inform applications related to human–computer interface design. Ultimately, this could lead to a cost-effective way to improve communication in medical contexts—with signification implications for both human health and the burgeoning medical device industry.
Highlights
The appropriate design of human–computer interactions plays a crucial role in harnessing the powerful capabilities of electronic devices
Relatively little research explores the efficacy of multimodal systems for human–computer interactions, psychologists and neuroscientists routinely illustrate the perceptual benefits of multimodal processing [5]
As a contribution to this special issue, we summarize current theories on these disparate but complementary areas of inquiry, highlighting recent discoveries related to acoustic properties facilitating audiovisual integration
Summary
The appropriate design of human–computer interactions plays a crucial role in harnessing the powerful capabilities of electronic devices. Research on visual [1,2], and auditory [3,4] interfaces illustrates the importance of careful attention to the design of unimodal displays. Relatively little research explores the efficacy of multimodal systems for human–computer interactions, psychologists and neuroscientists routinely illustrate the perceptual benefits of multimodal processing [5]. As a contribution to this special issue, we summarize current theories on these disparate but complementary areas of inquiry, highlighting recent discoveries related to acoustic properties facilitating audiovisual integration. Rather than a comprehensive overview, our goal is to contribute new ideas for interface design by illuminating points of potential interest through the practical applications of basic research
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