The Effects of Spatial Auditory Preview on Dynamic Visual Search Performance

Abstract

Since the auditory system is not spatially restricted like the visual system, spatial auditory cues can provide information regarding object position, velocity, and trajectory beyond the field of view. A laboratory experiment was conducted to demonstrate that visual displays can be augmented with dynamic spatial auditory cues that provide information regarding the motion characteristics of unseen objects. In this study, dynamic spatial auditory cues presented through headphones conveyed preview information regarding target position, velocity, and trajectory beyond the field of view in a dynamic visual search task in which subjects acquired and identified moving visual targets that traversed a display cluttered with varying numbers of moving distractors. The provision of spatial auditory preview significantly reduced response times to acquire and identify the visual targets and significantly reduced error rates, especially in cases when the visual display load was high. These findings demonstrate that providing dynamic spatial auditory preview cues is a viable mechanism for augmenting visual search performance in dynamic task environments.