Perceived Urgency and Annoyance of Auditory Alerts in a Driving Context

Abstract

Complex in-vehicle technology and safety systems are finding their way into many cars on the road today. These systems require alerts and warnings that appropriately convey multiple levels of urgency, but if these are deemed excessively annoying, then their implementation may be of little consequence. In this study we used a well-documented psychophysical approach to identify the relationship between specific auditory parameters, perceived urgency and perceived annoyance. In agreement with existing literature, increases in all parameters led to increases in both urgency and annoyance - although differentially. Of the parameters investigated, only pulse rate exhibited a stronger psychophysical relationship with urgency than annoyance. The tradeoff between urgency and annoyance is of practical concern and results from this study provide a potential guideline to determine the viability of future in vehicle alerts based on this relationship.