Initial Experimentation on Audio Annotation Using a Distributed Virtual Environment
Abstract
Today's battlespace has shifted from one of traditional warfare to non-conventional warfare. In addition to airborne operations, the USAF now employs personnel fighting as dismounted operators in dynamic and dangerous urban environments. New sensor capabilities will support the collection of information from multiple levels of the battlespace. Howevever, for that information to support effective decision making, it must be disseminated in a rapid, unambiguous manner and enable operators to remain "heads-up" and "eyes-out" to safely complete their mission. This efforts is part of a larger program of research to develop displays to increase mission effectiveness for dismounted personnel in ground operations. Here, we focus on the design and development of wearable 3D audio displays, and Audio Annotation in particular, which were tested in a virtual environment portraying an operationally relevant scenario in an urban setting. Results suggest that an audio display can lead to comparable or superior performance on a simulated search and rescue task relative to a visual display. Additional benefits of audio annotation relative to a mono display were not seen here. This has been attributed to the apparent ceiling performance achieved by subjects due to insufficient overall task loading. Future experiments will address these issues.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA551289
Entities
People
- Robert H. Gilkey
- Thomas J. Moore
Organizations
- Wright State University