Voice Warning Research Articles

Effectiveness and User Perception of an In-Vehicle Voice Warning for Hypoglycemia: Development and Feasibility Trial.

Hypoglycemia is a frequent and acute complication in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and is associated with a higher risk of car mishaps. Currently, hypoglycemia can be detected and signaled through flash glucose monitoring or continuous glucose monitoring devices, which require manual and visual interaction, thereby removing the focus of attention from the driving task. Hypoglycemia causes a decrease in attention, thereby challenging the safety of using such devices behind the wheel. Here, we present an investigation of a hands-free technology-a voice warning that can potentially be delivered via an in-vehicle voice assistant. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of an in-vehicle voice warning for hypoglycemia, evaluating both its effectiveness and user perception. We designed a voice warning and evaluated it in 3 studies. In all studies, participants received a voice warning while driving. Study 0 (n=10) assessed the feasibility of using a voice warning with healthy participants driving in a simulator. Study 1 (n=18) assessed the voice warning in participants with T1DM. Study 2 (n=20) assessed the voice warning in participants with T1DM undergoing hypoglycemia while driving in a real car. We measured participants' self-reported perception of the voice warning (with a user experience scale in study 0 and with acceptance, alliance, and trust scales in studies 1 and 2) and compliance behavior (whether they stopped the car and reaction time). In addition, we assessed technology affinity and collected the participants' verbal feedback. Technology affinity was similar across studies and approximately 70% of the maximal value. Perception measure of the voice warning was approximately 62% to 78% in the simulated driving and 34% to 56% in real-world driving. Perception correlated with technology affinity on specific constructs (eg, Affinity for Technology Interaction score and intention to use, optimism and performance expectancy, behavioral intention, Session Alliance Inventory score, innovativeness and hedonic motivation, and negative correlations between discomfort and behavioral intention and discomfort and competence trust; all P<.05). Compliance was 100% in all studies, whereas reaction time was higher in study 1 (mean 23, SD 5.2 seconds) than in study 0 (mean 12.6, SD 5.7 seconds) and study 2 (mean 14.6, SD 4.3 seconds). Finally, verbal feedback showed that the participants preferred the voice warning to be less verbose and interactive. This is the first study to investigate the feasibility of an in-vehicle voice warning for hypoglycemia. Drivers find such an implementation useful and effective in a simulated environment, but improvements are needed in the real-world driving context. This study is a kickoff for the use of in-vehicle voice assistants for digital health interventions.

Voice Warning to Identify Distance to Obstacles on Smart Cane for Blind People

Blind people are often hampered in their mobility, while currently available assistive technology includes manual sticks and electronic mobility devices. Currently, the development of smart canes is still being carried out in many studies. Smart cane works by detecting the distance of the cane to obstacles in front of you. From detecting this distance, the response the user gets is generally in the form of vibrations and sounds from the buzzer. The sound provided by the buzzer cannot differentiate the distance between obstacles. Therefore, this study proposes the existence of additional sound playback responses to differentiate far, middle, and near obstacles. Apart from that, the design of the prototype refers to the shape of a flashlight. The smart cane is designed using an Arduini UNO microcontroller with a rechargeable battery power supply with three response components, namely two ISD 1820 modules connected to a speaker to detect long distances (201-300 cm) with a "Hati-hati" sound and medium distances (101-200 cm) with an "Awas" sound, as well as a buzzer and piezoelectric component in the form of a "beep" sound and vibration for close distances (1-100 cm) to obstacles. The result is that both the ultrasonic sensor and response components work according to design. Apart from that, the rechargeable battery supply feature and the implementation of the prototype design make it easier for users to store and use for daily activities.

International protection of persons with disabilities in risk situations

The article analyzes the provisions of international legal acts on the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in situations of risk (the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 2006, the Charter on inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action of 2016, UN Security Council resolutions, etc.) It is indicated that the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has changed the approach to disability: persons with disabilities are recognized not as objects of medical care and charity, but as holders of rights; this human rights-based approach to disability requires a new understanding of international humanitarian law, refugee law and emergency response mechanisms for persons with disabilities. The factors that increase the vulnerability of persons with disabilities in risk situations are identified, such as: the difficulty of self-evacuation; inaccessibility of information about evacuation routes, shelters and safe places, humanitarian assistance, warnings due to sensory impairments (blindness, hearing impairment) etc. The gaps in the national legal framework in this area are highlighted, in particular: the lack of specific measures to ensure the safety of persons with disabilities and various health disorders in risk situations; the lack of simultaneous visual and voice warning systems in public places and services; the lack of emergency accommodation for persons with disabilities; the lack of periodic risk assessments and measures to collect disaggregated data to identify and eliminate specific risks etc. The author highlights the measures aimed at ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities in risk situations: promoting the protection of persons with disabilities in conflict-affected areas, including their evacuation; taking into account the needs of persons with disabilities in evacuation plans and ensuring their accessibility; ensuring that the needs of persons with disabilities are fully taken into account in the provision of humanitarian assistance; providing persons with disabilities with access to emergency accommodation in risk situations, etc.

Optimizing guidance signage system to improve drivers’ lane-changing behavior at the expressway toll plaza

Although ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) has been widely implemented in vehicles in China in recent years, the channel guidance signage system on expressways has not been updated accordingly. Late lane-changing occurs when drivers are confused about the correct channel to enter, leading to increased crash risks and traffic congestion in front of the toll. The paper aims to optimize the current guidance signage systems, given the high proportion of ETC vehicles on Chinese expressways, and evaluate its effects on the drivers’ lane-changing behavior when passing through the expressway toll channels. A driving simulator experiment was conducted to test four scenarios: Original sign plan, Partial Manual Toll Collection (MTC) sign plan, Complete MTC sign plan and Complete MTC sign with Voice warning plan. Forty participants with a valid driver's license completed the four scenarios, and their behavior performances (e.g., decision-making of lane-changing, response time, average speed and deceleration) in the main lane in front of the toll booth were analyzed. The results showed that compared to the Original sign plan and Partial MTC sign plans, the Complete MTC sign plans (with and without voice warning) played a significant role in improving the MTC vehicle drivers’ lane-changing behaviors. The improvement included earlier initiated lane-changing, shortened response time, lower deceleration rate and extended lane-changing duration distance. The findings of this study have important implications for expressway designers and relevant management departments to optimize the current guidance signage and enhance traffic safety and efficiency at the toll plaza.

Design of Solar Energy Photoelectric Storage Comprehensive Application Experimental Device

This experimental device is composed of the battery characteristics test of the solar cell, rotating and leveling of the solar panel, photoelectric complementary power supply, battery capacity display and charging/capacity and internal resistance test unit. The battery characteristics test unit includes variable resistance circuit, modulation circuit, LED drive circuit and light intensity measurement and display circuit design. The rotating and leveling of the solar panel unit includes wind and rain sensor input, master control of MCU, vertical axis rotation, horizontal axis swing rotation, voice warning and so on. The photoelectric complementary power supply unit includes the charge and discharge controller, inverter, DC/AC load and control circuit. In addition, the battery capacity display unit includes signal input, analog-to-digital conversion and LED display/voice alarm circuit design. The battery charging /capacity and internal resistance test unit includes voltage regulator, constant current generation circuit, voltage detection, display circuit and control circuit. In this paper, the experimental contents and methods which can be carried out by the device are designed. The experiment of the device has the characteristics of rich knowledge integration, strong comprehensiveness and a flexible combination of contents.

English Tacitism and Ben Jonson’s Sejanus his Fall

This paper inquires into the relation between the reality of Jacobean politics and the rise of English Tacitism. King James I’s unruly desire to extend his prerogatives brought about the encroachment upon old liberties of the commons and freedom of speech. The Jacobeans were prompted to seek a voice warning of the dangers of royal misrule, when they recognized the potential perils of James’s prerogatives. Tacitism served as a rallying cry against the incipient tyranny, as Tacitus’s historiography was based on antipathy towards tyrannical rule, and as its method was to critique the present state through parallels between the past and the present. James’s reign was characterized as a tug of war between the King and the adherents of Tacitism, as the tension between the two heightened. This paper investigates this power struggle between the monarch and the English Taciteans through a study of Sejanus, where Ben Jonson uses Tacitus as a means of political criticism. Jonson adopts the Tacitean method in his work by uncovering a true picture of his times through depictions of similarities between Tiberian Rome and James’s England. Not only in the place of Jacobean court but also in the literary world did English Taciteans strive to offer political advice.

An Effective Recognition Method for Road Information Based on Mobile Terminal

This paper describes a design of fast recognition of road information based on mobile terminal. Firstly, based on the HOG algorithm, we study and verify the effects of different parameters on the performance of the algorithm. Secondly, we test 800 images randomly selected from the INRIA pedestrian dataset to obtain the optimal parameters for the mobile terminal and the proportion of video resolution and detection window. Then, under the same test conditions, the time overheads of the SVMLight and the LibSVM are recorded and SVMLight training time is significantly less than LibSVM. Thirdly, we design and implement a real-time road information recognition and warning system on the Windows platform and Android platform. Features include real-time pedestrians detection, voice warning, and road signs recognition. When the vehicle speed is less than 30 km/h, the video resolution is less than 720 × 576 and the detection window/image ratio is less than 1 : 50; the system can guarantee low delay and high recognition rate (97.2%).

Design and Actualization of Intrinsically Safe Voice Warning System for Mine

According to the actual situation of coal mine,a voice alarming system which can meet with remote communication is designed. The system bases on CANopen protocol and can remotely transfer voice data through CAN bus.Furthermore it is of MP3 play function.Testing results shows that the voice alarming system can transfer voice data at a very low rate of 2.4kbit/s with distortion of voice signal being less than 15% and sound intensity being more than 90 db.The system is suitable for application in the underground due to its high reliability and low energy consumption.

Independence or Not? Paul V. McNutt, Manuel L. Quezon, and the Re-examination of Philippine Independence, 1937–9

In 1934 the United States set the Philippines on a new course, one that was to begin with autonomy for the archipelago as a ‘commonwealth’ - not a colony - and end with the Islands gaining independ...

Study on Timing of Voice Warning at Crossings

Study on Timing of Voice Warning at Crossings

Printed Warning Statements and Signal Words on Intended Carefulness

Previous research on textual warnings has mainly focused on individual signal words, but much less research has concerned signal words in context within warnings. The current study investigated printed (visual) warnings statements that contained signal words paired with hazard and instruction statements. These statements have been previously used in research on voice (auditory) warnings by Barzegar and Wogalter (2000). The results showed that participants rated warning statements containing hazard and instruction information paired with the signal word ”DEADLY” significantly higher on intended carefulness than the same statements paired with the signal word ”DANGER.” Statements paired with a signal word were rated higher than statements without a signal word. Overall, the pattern of the ratings for the printed statements in this study concurs with that of Barzegar's and Wogalter (2000) voice warning data. Implications and suggestions to the design of effective warning statements are discussed.

Effects of Synthesized Voice Warning Parameters on Perceived Urgency

The effects of synthesized voice warning parameters on perceived urgency were examined in order to build a detailed and usable description of the relation between the parameters of synthesized voice warnings and perceived urgency. Ten native and 10 non-native English speakers participated in 4 experiments to evaluate and quantify the effects of the voice parameters. The results showed that speech rate, average fundamental frequency (F0), voice type, and fundamental frequency contour have clear effects on the perceived urgency of synthesized voice warnings. The effects of quantitative parameters on perceived urgency were scaled using an application of Stevens’s power law (1957). In addition, the results showed significant differences in the perceived urgency of average F0 and F0 contour types between native and non-native English speakers. Implications of the results for the design and improvement of synthesized voice warnings are discussed.

Behavioral compliance with warnings: effects of voice, context, and location

This research examined the effects of several warning sign variables on compliance behavior. Participants followed a set of printed instructions to perform a chemistry task that involved measuring and mixing disguised (nonhazardous) chemicals. Whether or not participants wore protective equipment as directed by the warning was measured. The environment around the sign was either visually cluttered or uncluttered. In some conditions, pictorials, a voice warning, and/or a flashing strobe light were added. The results showed that compliance was significantly greater when the warning was presented in an uncluttered environment compared to a cluttered environment. The presence of a voice warning produced a strong and reliable increase in compliance compared to conditions without a voice warning. No statistically reliable effects of pictorials or strobe were found though the results did show a trend of greater compliance when they were present. In addition, compliance was positively related to memory of the warning, perception of hazard, and reported carefulness. Experiments 2 and 3 directly compared the effect of a postedsign warning and a within-instructions warning. Results showed that a warning embedded in a set of task instructions produced significantly greater compliance than a similar, larger warning posted as a sign nearby. Experiment 3 confirmed this finding, but, like Experiment 1, no significant increase in compliance was shown when pictorials were added to either warning.

Warning Compliance: Effects of a Video Warning Sign and Modeling on Behavior

The effectiveness of warnings and social influence (modeling) for improving safety behavior was examined in a laboratory setting. Although training programs aimed at improving safety behavior in the workplace frequently use videotapes with models portraying safe and unsafe behaviors, the effectiveness of training interventions of this type are rarely evaluated nor have results been published in the research literature. Training to increase safety behaviors can translate into large savings to an organization in terms of reductions in equipment damage, cost of liability litigation, and decreases in injury to both consumers and employees. The present research examined the effects of a posted (video) warning, video role-modeling, and a voice warning on compliance with safety behaviors. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, warning alone, warning and exposure to a video model performing the appropriate safety behaviors, or warning, video modeling, and a voice warning. The results showed that behavioral modeling presented through a video display significantly enhanced behavioral compliance compared to a video sign warning alone. The addition of a voice warning did not further increase compliance due to ceiling effects produced by the powerful influence of the modeling. Implications of this research for safety training programs and forensic human factors as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.

Evaluating the Behavioral Effectiveness of a Multi-Modal Voice Warning Sign in a Visually Cluttered Environment

This research examined the effects of a multi-modal warning sign on compliance behavior. Participants followed a set of printed instructions to perform a chemistry task that involved measuring and mixing disguised (nonhazardous) chemicals. Whether participants wore protective equipment as directed by the warning was measured. The environment around the sign was either visually cluttered or uncluttered. In some conditions, pictorials, a voice warning, and/or a flashing strobe light were added. The results showed that compliance was significantly greater when the warning was presented in an uncluttered environment compared to a cluttered environment. The results also showed that the presence of a voice warning produced a strong and reliable increase in compliance compared to conditions without a voice warning. No statistically reliable effects of pictorials or strobe were found though the results did show a trend of greater compliance when they were present. In addition, compliance was positively related to memory of the warning, perception of hazard, and reported carefulness. The results call attention to the importance of the context in which a warning is placed, and the potential benefits of voice warnings.

Behavioural compliance to voice and print warnings

The present research examined the effect of warning modality on compliance behaviour in two laboratory experiments and a field experiment. In the laboratory experiments, subjects followed a set of printed instructions to perform a chemistry demonstration task that involved the measuring and mixing of disguised chemicals. In the first experiment, subjects were directed to wear mask and gloves by a warning presented in one of three ways: printed on the top of the instruction sheet (print-only); given aurally by the experimenter (voice-only); or given both in the printed instructions and by the experimenter (print and voice). The results showed that compliance was significantly higher when the warning was presented in both modalities compared to the print-only condition. The voice-only condition produced intermediate compliance that was not reliably different from the other two conditions. To reduce possible experimenter influence in the voice warning conditions of the first experiment, the warning was presented by audiotape in the second experiment. The results again showed greater compliance to a warning presented in both modalities compared to a print warning alone. To check the external validity of these results, a field experiment was performed which simulated a slippery-floor hazard in a shopping mall. The results confirmed the findings of the two laboratory experiments. This research demonstrates that voice warnings enhance behavioural compliance, probably due to their inherent attention-getting and information transmission properties. Practical applications of voice warnings are discussed.

Effect of voice type and message format on speed and accuracy of response to voice warnings

The effect of LPC voice type and of message format on the speed and accuracy of response to voice warning signals were investigated at various levels of a simulated military inflight noise environment. LPC voice types were male, female, and machine, and the message formats were voice warning, repeat voice warning, and tone‐voice warning. The primary task was a manual tracking task that required continuous attention whereas the secondary task required individual manual responses to randomly presented warning messages. A background signal of inflight aircraft voice communications was presented via the subject's earphones throughout the experiment. The voice warning messages were also presented via the earphones at levels of 0, 5, and 10 dB above this background communication level. Ten subjects completed the experimental tasks while wearing standard Air Force flight helmets and oxygen masks in the presence of the emulated aircraft noise at levels of 105 and 115 dB (SPL). The effects of LPC voice type and message format on voice warning effectiveness will be presented and discussed.

Voice warning system for automotive vehicle

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Voice warning system for an automotive vehicle

Voice warning system for an automotive vehicle

Response time effects of alerting tone and semantic context for synthesized voice cockpit warnings.

Some handbooks and human factors design guides have recommended that a voice warning should be preceded by a tone to attract attention to the warning. As far as can be determined from a search of the literature, no experimental evidence supporting this exists. A fixed-base simulator flown by airline pilots was used to test the hypothesis that the total "system-time" to respond to a synthesized voice cockpit warning would be longer when the message was preceded by a tone because the voice itself was expected to perform both the alerting and the information transfer functions. The simulation included realistic ATC radio voice communications, synthesized engine noise, cockpit conversation, and realistic flight routes. The effect of a tone before a voice warning was to lengthen response time; that is, responses were slower with an alerting tone. Lengthening the voice warning with another word, however, did not increase response time.