Evaluation of Multiparameter Vibrotactile Display Designs to Support Physiological Monitoring Performance in Anesthesiology

摘要

The task set of anesthesiologists, like those of operators in many data-rich work domains, is characterizedby heavy demand for visual and auditory resources. Employing tactile displays can offload some of thisdemand, potentially improving performance in tasks related to patient care during surgery, such as monitoringand managing multiple physiological systems. The current study compared anesthesiologists’ performancein an immersive patient simulator under four different physiological data display configurations:standard visual and auditory displays alone, and with the addition of three different vibrotactile displaydesigns. Findings show that physiological management performance improved with the vibrotactile displays,compared to with standard displays alone. The best performance was found with “continuouslyinforming”vibrotactile displays which increased signal salience as represented parameters approached unsafelevels. The findings from this study have implications for tactile display design, as well as the study oftactile and multimodal information processing in attentionally-demanding environments.