The Effects of Simulated Hearing Loss on Aviator Performance and Cognitive Workload During Simulated Flight
Abstract
Hearing loss can render an aviator more susceptible to the adverse effects of degraded communication signals and consequently lead to an increased allocation of mental resources to the task of processing radio communications (referred to as listening effort). The current study investigated the impact of simulated hearing loss on functional hearing assessments, flight performance, and cognitive workload of military-trained rotary-wing pilots. Subjects underwent current standard clinical audiometric testing and performed simulated rotary-wing flights. Two listening conditions, normal hearing and one of two simulated hearing loss, were tested. Clinical testing was conducted in a sound-treated audiometric booth using a tablet-based system and aviation communication earplugs. Simulated flight performance data were collected from pilots operating a full-motion UH-60 Black Hawk flight simulator at the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory. Aviator performance was compared in high and low workloads across the different hearing conditions. Simulated hearing loss decreased all audiometric testing speech scores and decreased speech intelligibility in the flight simulator as well indicating that the larger the hearing deficit, the more missed or incorrect calls subjects had on average. Findings from this study will be leveraged in developing future protocols for aeromedical standards and provide data for the development of operator state monitoring capabilities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 12, 2024
- Accession Number
- AD1226623
Entities
People
- Heath Jones
- J. R. Stefanson
- Jennifer Noetzel
- Kevin Andres
- Kichol Lee
- Kyle Hale
- Paula Henry
- Riley Mccormick
- Ryan Mackie
- Xiaomin Yue
Organizations
- United States Army