Representative Auditory Warning Signals: Methodological Considerations for Their Development and Selection

Abstract

The work focuses on an initial effort to develop a selection methodology (Free Meaning Response, Perceived Urgency, and Perceived Association with an experimenter-selected meaning) for representative auditory warnings, also known as “auditory icons”, a new class of auditory warning signals. Further, the need to consider population differences and testing environment when using the above methodology is experimentally demonstrated. Finally, hypotheses related to situations where representative auditory warning signals may/may not be most effective, specifically, issues related to masking (when the noise and signal spectra are similar) and the conveyance of abstract ideas (very difficult with auditory icons) are presented.