Effect of System Latency in Dynamic Virtual Acoustic Environments

摘要

The aviation environment contains multiple channels of auditory and visual information that must be accessed under high-stress, high-workload conditions. Auditory displays that controllers and pilots currently use can be significantly enhanced by utilizing three-dimensional (3-D) audio technology. Separate channels of auditory information can be placed at different virtual locations (1) to enhance situation awareness (e.g., airborne or ground traffic collision avoidance alerts, taxiway navigation aids and announcements); (2) to increase intelligibility (through the use of binaural delivery systems); and (3) to reduce auditory fatigue. Enabling these displays requires the development of specialized hardware systems for rendering virtual audio, the assessment of their engineering performance characteristics, and the perceptual validation of the spatial cues rendered by such systems.