Noise in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is a persistent and well-documented problem. Sound levels in PICUs exceed guideline levels, contributing to stress and burnout among nurses, disrupted recovery in patients, and inefficiency across the healthcare system. Yet, despite decades of awareness, little has changed. Existing approaches focus on measuring noise in decibels, producing data that does not capture how sound is actually experienced and interpreted by the people working in these environments.

This thesis argues that noise in the PICU is not a technical problem but a sensemaking and empowerment challenge. Through a Research through Design approach combining literature review, observation, shadowing, and semi-structured interviews with five experienced PICU nurses at Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital, the research explored how nurses experience and interpret sound in their daily work, what prevents them from acting on that experience, and how a shared system could support collective understanding and change.

The field research identified five key themes: sound is continuously produced by overlapping sources embedded in daily care practices; noise affects nurses, patients, parents, and the system at multiple levels; nurses feel unempowered due to feeling unheard, lacking agency, and experiencing the social discomfort of confrontation; systemic barriers, including high workload, spatial constraints, and cultural resistance, prevent change; and nurses already possess the awareness, desire for collaboration, and ideas needed to improve their environment.

These findings guided the design of *StillNest*, a data commons for soundscape awareness structured across three layers: an inner layer, where individual nurses engage with sound data and contribute observations; a middle layer, where patterns become visible to the hospital; and an outer layer connecting to a broader research network. The interface design helps nurses understand sound collectively, act on it in small ways, and share responsibility for it, turning individual awareness into collective change.
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Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are complex socio-technical environments where sound plays an essential role in clinical workflows, monitoring systems, and communication between healthcare professionals. However, several sound-induced problems have been identified in ICU environments, such as (mental) health complaints due to prolonged or excessive sound exposure, decreased concentration, extended response times, and alarm fatigue. At the same time, the ICU soundscape is shared by multiple user groups, while sound itself fulfils important functional roles. This makes improving soundscape quality a complex design challenge. This project seeks to advance the soundscape experience for various ICU stakeholders through the development of a consolidated, listener-centric design strategy.

This graduation project combines a listener-centric approach with a multi-perspective analysis to design a soundscape intervention strategy for the ICU at the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC). First, the acoustic environment was analysed through observations, sound measurements, and environmental mapping in order to structure the sonic environment and identify sound categories. Subsequently, the ICU was examined as an acoustic biotope, analysing relationships between sound functions, user roles, and user needs. These insights formed the basis for a problem analysis and sound-driven design exploration.

The research resulted in the development of “The Roadmap towards the Ideal Soundscape”, a strategic design tool that visualises the current ICU soundscape and identifies opportunities for soundscape improvement. The roadmap integrates both short- and long-term design opportunities and supports stakeholders in developing awareness and making sound-conscious decisions. It therefore provides a tailored design strategy for the LUMC to improve the quality of the ICU soundscape. ... Read more

Funerals are increasingly personalized to reflect the life, values, and personality of the deceased, while societal awareness of environmental impact drives demand for sustainable alternatives. Conventional coffins are often made from non-biodegradable materials, and current coffin designs offer limited aesthetic and personal expression.

This project explores 3D printing coffins using a bio-based and biodegradable material to create more meaningful, emotionally supportive, and aesthetically pleasing coffins.

Both coffins and carrying boards are included under the term "carriage." Material properties were studied through Material Driven Design and tensile testing, revealing technical feasibility and a natural, organic appearance appreciated by users.

A journey map, based on interviews with undertakers and bereaved individuals, formed a design direction and goal. The final carriage allows control over the visibility of the body, a gradual closure, and the placement of gifts. The design holds flowing forms, follows body contours and integrates into a nature setting

Strength of the coffin was evaluated through a Finite Element Analysis to optimize weight, cost, and printing time.


User evaluations indicated that the design was aesthetically pleasing than current solutions. Further research is needed on structural strength, cost, and production efficiency to ensure viability ... Read more

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a high-stress environment that often disrupts patients’ circadian rhythms and emotional well-being due to artificial lighting, unfamiliar routines, and the absence of natural day-night cues. This project explores how lighting interventions can improve the ICU experience from the perspective of critically ill patients. Conducted in collaboration with Critical Alarms Lab (TU Delft) and Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), the study followed a human-centered design process to understand and address patient challenges related to light exposure.

Through observations, interviews with healthcare professionals, and environmental light assessments, key vulnerable moments in the patient journey particularly during waking and sleep preparation were identified. This led to the development of LumoGlaze, a wearable smart goggle, and LumoSync, a mobile app that uses physiological data (Heart rate and sleep phase from Fitbit) to adapt lighting. The system provides calming evening light and a morning bright light therapy to support circadian alignment.

Prototypes were refined through iterative testing and evaluated in a simulated ICU setting. Participants reported the system as comfortable, intuitive, and non-intrusive. While physiological data showed no significant variations across lighting modes, the intervention was perceived as supportive in creating a calmer environment.

This work highlights the potential of patient-centered, non-pharmacological lighting solutions in critical care. LumoGlaze serves as a blueprint for integrating adaptive, human-focused lighting technology into healthcare environments. Future recommendations include in-site ICU testing, extended physiological monitoring, and exploring more personalized lighting strategies. ... Read more

In critical care environments like the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) , patients are surrounded by an abundance of unwanted sounds from the medical alarms and equipment that often lead to heightened stress, confusion and psychological discomfort. This graduation project explores how the acoustic environment of the Adult Intensive Care Unit can be reimagined to support the critically ill patients using a soundscape system. The context of this project is the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) and the stakeholders considered in this project along with the patients are the healthcare providers and loved ones.

Existing literature and field studies reveal that while sound is a vital component for healthcare professionals (HCP) to monitor patient status, it is often a source of disruption and emotional strain for patients and their loved ones. The project identifies a gap in current interventions, which largely focus on reducing noise rather than enhancing the patient’s experience. A soundscape is defined as the acoustic environment as perceived or experienced and/or understood by a person or people, in context (ISO 12913, 2014). The current acoustic environment has been outlined through a context study, along with its impact on key stakeholders. This provided a clear understanding how the current ICU soundscape hinders the emotional well - being of the patients. A multi-method research approach was conducted, including contextual observations at LUMC, interviews with healthcare providers, and a review of ICU patient experiences to identify the affected psychological needs of patients.
From these insights, a detailed patient journey map was created, highlighting critical moments where the auditory environment could support or hinder well-being. Through a thorough understanding of the journey map , four unfulfilled psychological needs were identified - Lack of autonomy , relatedness, security and comfort. Following literature, these unfulfilled psychological human needs can be fulfilled by providing the right sonic ambience at the right moment. A need for connectedness with the outside world through these sonic ambiences was investigated to be fulfilled to meet the identified fundamental needs. Literature explores how need based sonic ambiences should be tested for their functional role i.e. to comfort, to distract during long stretches of time without visitation or spontaneous breathing trails etc. Connectedness to environment became a facet to explore as a design direction which was further explored in the event based journey map of the patient through different times of the day and modes for sonic ambiences which could fulfil the desired functions. These findings underlined the importance of a personalized approach to creating meaningful soundscapes within the ICU. By mapping out key moments of interaction, the framework for the system was outlined detailing when and how each stakeholder would be engaged. Implementation touchpoints were identified as: patients pre-admission, loved ones at the beginning of the ICU stay, and healthcare providers throughout the admission, who would be responsible for tailoring and adjusting the sonic experience. This multi-stakeholder approach became essential for integrating the system into the complex ICU environment.
Several mobile and tablet based prototypes were created to conduct usability tests with fellow students to test the engagement on the app and how easily sounds are selected based on contextual cues like related to specific given environments (like forest, beach ,Café )leading to the most intuitive methods to be implemented in the real world setting.
The resulting design, SoulSound, is a soundscape system integrated into the ICU room to deliver personalized auditory experiences that help patients feel a sense of connectedness to positive environments in an otherwise sterile and unsettling atmosphere. The system includes an interface for input collection by patients, family members, or HCPs and dynamically adjusts sound based on changing needs throughout the day. Four key sonic functions were defined: calming, distracting, activating, and reassuring. These roles help support patients during moments of loneliness, discomfort, or procedural stress, waking up or sleeping times of the day. Usability testing with design students validated the concept’s interaction model and the emotional outcomes of the sound experience , while expert evaluation highlighted practical challenges and ethical considerations. Positive responses from participants indicated that personalized sound could serve as a subtle yet powerful tool to support mental well-being during ICU admission by reducing stress and meaningfully involving loved ones and HCPs in the care journey. However, concerns were raised regarding the appropriateness of certain sounds and aspects of integration into clinical workflows, leading to a set of recommendations for future research. The feedback and insights gathered from these tests resulted in recommendations for future research. Finally an overall reflection on the study concluded the research. ... Read more

This master’s thesis explores how Interface Design can support a new approach to alarm configuration in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), aiming to reduce alarm overload. Alarm Fatigue, a phenomenon caused by frequent and non-actionable alarms, poses risks to patient safety. The project is part of the Smart and Silent Intensive Care Unit (SASICU) initiative, a European initiative aimed at addressing Alarm Fatigue. Current alarm systems are not centralised, rely on absolute thresholds, are time-consuming to configure, and therefore lack patient-specific configurations, resulting in an excessive number of clinically irrelevant alarms.

In response, SetWise was developed through an iterative user-centred process: a configuration User Interface enabling nurses to personalise alarm settings in just two main steps. It offers real-time adjustments, contextual shortcuts, and manual fine-tuning. Eight ICU nurses evaluated SetWise, confirming its usability but indicating variation in work styles and preferences. To support adoption, flexible UI design, comprehensive training, and step-by-step implementation are recommended. SetWise represents a tangible step towards a quieter and smarter ICU, encouraging a potential paradigm shift in alarm configuration: moving from micromanagement to patient-specific situational awareness. ... Read more

Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are highly technological environments where light and sound strongly influence patient comfort, orientation, and recovery. However, current ICU lighting is static, overly bright, and emotionally disconnected, disrupting circadian rhythms and contributing to stress and disorientation.

This project proposes Komora, a responsive lighting system that translates sound into light to complement existing sonic ambiances developed by Dr. Gijs Louwers. Komora dynamically adapts its brightness and colour temperature to the rhythm and tone of ambient sounds, creating a calm and supportive sensory environment.

The focus was on human-centered design, technical feasibility, and integration into existing ICU infrastructure. Through prototyping and user testing, Komora demonstrated that synchronized light and sound can reduce perceived tenseness, enhance comfort, and support circadian alignment without hindering clinical workflows.
By transforming sound into light, Komora shows how subtle, sensory-aware design can improve patient well-being and create more humane, restorative ICU environments.
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Introduction: The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a highly monitored environment where alarm overload poses risks to patient safety and staff well-being. SpO2 alarms contribute significantly and are often clinically irrelevant. This contributes to alarm fatigue, delayed responses, and disrupted workflows while excessive noise adversely affects patient recovery and nurse mental health. The aim was to analyse the auditory alarm landscape in the ICU at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) with a focus on SpO2 alarms. Furthermore, SpO2 alarms were annotated for actionability through the integration of contextual data and SpO2 trends were evaluated.
Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on ICU patients admitted between December 2023 and October 2024. Alarm, oxygen saturation, and patient data were extracted from monitoring systems and patient data management systems. The alarm dataset was explored using descriptive statistics. Audible SpO2 alarms were annotated for actionability using predefined criteria based on clinical context, signal quality, and response to alarms, including respiratory support therapy escalation and ventilation or oxygen parameter adjustments. SpO2 trends surrounding alarms were analysed to find patterns between actionable and non-actionable events.
Results: Among 635,717 auditory alarms recorded over 2261 patient-days, 32% were SpO2 alarms, with 88.7% classified as non-actionable. The median response time for actionable alarms was 8.17 minutes, with most interventions involving FiO2 increases. Temporal analyses revealed alarm frequency peaks during morning and afternoon shifts. SpO2 trends at the time of actionable alarms correlated with significant desaturation events, while non-actionable alarms reflected minor, transient changes.
Conclusion: This study analysed the auditory alarmscape in the LUMC ICU, revealing that SpO2 alarms, while significant contributors to alarm burden, are mostly non-actionable, increasing the alarm load and its associated challenges unnecessarily. By annotating alarms based on clinical context, it has laid groundwork for developing robust predictive algorithms to suppress non-actionable alarms. ... Read more

Although the current Intensive Care environment focuses on providing the best care, the current sounds in that environment do not contribute to an optimal patient experience, leading to high stress levels. Literature study showed that soundscape augmentation can reduce patients’ stress in healthcare settings if implemented correctly. This project focuses on designing and validating such a system for critically ill patients in the Adult Intensive Care. Throughout the project, key stakeholders are considered; patients, healthcare professionals and loved ones.

A soundscape is defined as the acoustic environment as perceived or experienced and/or understood by a person or people, in context (ISO 12913, 2014). The current acoustic environment has been outlined through a context study, along with its impact on key stakeholders. Together, this provided a clear understanding of the existing ICU soundscape. It can be stated that the current ICU soundscape hinders healing because it affects patients’ psychological well-being.

Existing interviews from the Critical Alarms Lab, which aims at shaping the future of soundscapes in these environments, are used to explore patient experiences in ICUs. Four unfulfilled psychological human needs were identified as the barriers to a positive ICU experience: lack of autonomy, comfort, recognition and stimulation. Following literature, these unfulfilled psychological human needs can be fulfilled by providing the right sonic ambience at the right moment. Together with the context study outcomes, a comprehensive patient journey map was created to gain insights into when those psychological needs are either fulfilled or unfulfilled. Interventions in ICU soundscapes need a tailored approach because psychological needs are constantly changing over time and do not arise and disappear at the same time for everyone. A personalized approach was needed to improve the ICU experience.

Four key interaction moments were defined: Patients before admission, loved ones at the start of the admission, healthcare professionals during admission and patients during admission. Several prototypes were created to conduct usability tests with fellow students and healthcare professionals. Insights were gained on which prototype provided the highest engagement and which technique was most intuitive and useful for integrating the system into the healthcare workflow.

A new brand identity was created, resulting in the final design: Amadé - A Soundscape Augmentation System that provides personalized soundscapes, tailored to patients’ needs. By aligning soundscapes with patient preferences and clinical needs, Amadé reduces stress and improves patient comfort. User interfaces were created, focusing on the right tone of voice for each interaction moment. An evaluation test was conducted with ex-ICU patients in multiple online sessions. There was a positive response to the usability of the interfaces, but distrust of the system’s effectiveness emerged. The feedback and insights gathered from these tests resulted in recommendations for future research and a project reflection.
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Despite the fact that product sounds have been shown to have a significant impact on the experience of products, product sounds are rarely considered in design projects and design education at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. Research through literature review and expert interviews revealed that product sound design requires an interdisciplinary approach. A framework was created from different areas of product sound design. This framework separates that product sounds are influenced on three levels. The first is the product features, i.e. the components that act as a sound source. At this level, it is most important to consider how acoustic and engineering decisions can influence the perception of sound as derived from psychoacoustics. The second level, the object level, is about factors that influence the composition of the product and is mostly based on knowledge from subfields of musicology. The third level, the scene level, considers the sound of the product together with its use and location. This makes it possible to assess whether the external influences still result in the desired sound. Based on this framework, a digital audio design tool was developed. The purpose of this tool was to give practical examples of how sounds can be changed. This is achieved by providing parameters that have an impact on the engineering of a product, such as the choice of components and materials, and by allowing a composition of all the features to create the sound of the whole product. Finally, external factors such as the user’s interaction with the product and the influence of the context in which the product’s sound is heard can also be modelled. User testing has shown that this tool allows creative exploration of possible product sounds, while being concrete enough to gather initial design objectives. As an ideation tool, it provides direction for the further development of the product, taking into account its sound. ... Read more

takeUthere is a digital product design for nurses in the hospital to reduce working stress during work break time. As the professions that help people solve health problems, the hospital staff pay attention to the patientʼs physical condition all the time, including nurses, they face complex and difficult tasks every day. During the work, they need to follow orders from the head nurse and physicians, regulate mood for patients and their families, monitor the medical equipment, track the data and write reports for information sharing with colleagues, etc. This type of work challenges a nurse's professional skills, psychological enduring capacity, sense organ enduring capacity. Metally overwhelming becomes normal status in nursesʼ daily working time. Therefore, providing a balance between sensory and mental during the work break by regulating their mood has its value to be explored. This graduation project aims to solve this problem by introducing a product/service solution. It cooperates with TU Delft Critical Alarms Lab, which focuses on sound-related research and design, in the area of healthcare, academic hospitals, etc. The main goal is to reduce the daily working pressure of nurses through sound and music, therefore creating a positive mood to face their work. The outcome of the project - takeUthere digital product introduced a sound-driven experience in which nurses can enjoy short-term relaxation. It provides detailed sound from a daily office object. The user needs to find it and scan it on the APP. Then it delivers a fantastic charming scenario with 360-degree panorama visuals cooperating with relaxing scenario music. The final design includes APP user experience design, panorama visual design, and scenario sound editing. Moreover, it successfully convinced 8 participants with its unique fun experience. It shows the values for further development possibilities and improvement ideas. It also concluded new implementation opportunities areas followed by future recommendations. The project leads to the following conclusions: (1)Away from stress - design for nurses to use during work break. (2)Suitable for different types of user habits. (3)Simplified interaction yet targeting the problem. (4)Be engaged in the short story. takeUthere, let the sound bring you to a scenario that you ever dreamt of. ... Read more

Admission to the intensive care unit often has long lasting effects on patients’ further life. Not only can the reason for their admission leave several problems, but also mechanical ventilation, physical inactivity, sedation and delirium are only some of the factors that contribute to the problems left after ICU stay. Over 80,000 people are annually admitted to the intensive care units of the Dutch hospitals alone and, due to technical advancements, a rising number of patients survives critical illness. Post intensive care syndrome is the overarching name that combines all the physical and mental problems related to intensive care unit stay. It has been well established that rehabilitation and early mobilisation are effective counter measures against post intensive care syndrome. It has also been shown that interactive video gaming can play a useful role in rehabilitation as an addition to conventional therapy. Evidence has shown that the use of visual feedback improves performance and adherence to the therapy in comparison to regular of physical therapy. This design study is meant to create a new interactive video gaming device that allows ICU patients that are at least semi mobile and semi cooperative, to play video games with the aim to help them leave the ICU in the best physical and cognitive state as possible. To come up with the right design, a literature study on the relevant subjects has been done. Also, expert interviews with intensive care unit care-giving staff have been conducted and experience has been gained on the intensive care unit of the Erasmus medical center Rotterdam to make sure the design is done in the right context. Based on the outcomes of this research the decision was made to aim the design to help in activities of daily living. From this aim a specific goal was formulated: The goal is to create an interactive video game controlling system that allows ICU patients, that are at least semi mobile and semi cooperative, to play video games that simultaneously helps in increasing muscle strength, delivers distraction from the daily routine in the ICU and stimulates patients cognitively. Together with physiotherapists and intensivists from the Erasmus medical center Rotterdam a list of requirements for the final designs was created. As during activities of daily living hand grip is one of the most important aspects, the decision was made to use sub-maximal grip force control as the desired training form. Because of this two different versions of grip strength trainers were proposed. The first concept uses the medium wrap grasp as input movement and the second concept uses the power-sphere grasps. These are two of the most frequently used grasp types in daily life. The concepts are designed in a way that the force exerted on the device can be used to control a video game. Internal force sensing resistors, connected to an Arduino, translate the force to a useful signal to control the game. Ten prototypes were created to get to the final designs, which were then tested with patients on the ICU. As result of testing and iterating the concepts, two final designs were delivered, fulfilling the list of requirements. Feasibility tests of these designs were done on the ICU of the Erasmus medical center Rotterdam and were promising. ICU patients participating in the tests understood the game well, were capable of performing the required movements to play the game and delivered feedback on the design and the gaming experience. This paper has lead up to a final prototype that has gone through basic testing to check for feasibility and has proven to work. Further scientific research on a larger scale should be the next step to review the clinical effects of the device. ... Read more

Sleep is a vital restoration mechanism for our health and well-being. Deficiency in sleep can cause physical and mental health problems and reduced quality of life. How well we sleep is closely related to our behavior, and day to day stress can immensely influence sleep quality. Sound and music, on the other hand, is a powerful way to influence human emotions, reduce anxiety, and improve the quality of sleep. Feel Good is a personalized sound experience, designed to reduce stress and induce sleep. It steers the listener’s thoughts to a positive reflection state to prepare the mind and body to fall asleep in contentment. Feel Good’s ever changing layers of sounds are orchestrated by monitoring physiological and environmental data and curates a listening experience made with the listener’s “feel good” moments. Nevertheless, it suggests to improve the quality of sleep by reducing sleep onset latency, sleep fragmentation, and prolonging deep sleep. This research holds an interdisciplinary approach to investigate sleep influencing behavioral factors, stress coping orientations, and sounds in an attempt to bring a sound driven technology to optimize sleep and improve well being in the consumer electronics market. ... Read more

The intensive care unit (ICU) is a special department of the hospital that admits critically ill patients who need intensive monitoring, supporting, and/or take-over of one or more of their vital functions. The patients are monitored and supported by medical equipment as well as a team of intensivists, nurses and other medical staff members 24/7. Due to the audible alarms of the devices, but also because of conversing people and other machinery and incidental sounds, the ICU transformed into an acoustically hostile environment. Ironically, the ICU’s excessive amount of sounds threatens both patient safety and clinicians’ wellbeing and work efficiency (Redert, 2018). In light of these sound issues in the ICU, this graduation assignment aimed to capture the ICU nurses’ sound-related values and practices and to develop an understanding of the phenomenon of sound in a sociocultural context – the so-called ‘ICU sound culture’. By understanding the ICU sound culture, the second aim of the assignment was to look for opportunities for silencing down the ICU whilst considering the sound cultures. The first aim, capturing and typifying different ICU sound cultures, was addressed in a field research study with a procedure based on contextmapping. The research findings showed that nurses working in the same Dutch ICU and nurses working in different ICUs share three (sound-related) core values: autonomously working (together), being situationally aware and giving and receiving social support. It seems that the accompanying practices are transmitted through learning and typical for the Dutch ICU (sound) culture. However, nurses from different ICUs but also nurses of one and the same team could differ in their value orientations and practicing these. As a result, the nurses can be divided into three types based on shared customs, beliefs and needs, called ‘personas’. The field research showed that similarities and differences exist due to ICU specific sound cultures and ICU specific group cultures within one and the same team. Though different sound cultures and coping strategies with the sounds exist, there is a commonality regarding the ‘sound problem’ (i.e. the excessive amount of sounds in an ICU): in all ICUs, the sounds, or even issues with them, are sort of accepted to a greater or lesser extent due to nurses not knowing why (by being ignorant or indifferent) or not knowing how to reduce sounds. Additionally, the current sound-reducing efforts that do exist are often taken individually, ad-hoc and they have a short-term impact. When ICUs want to reduce the sounds with a bigger impact in the longer term, ICUs need to create ‘sound-issue awareness’ and motivate every individual nurse to act upon the sound issues. This opportunity for silencing down the ICU whilst considering the sound cultures, which was the second aim of the project, was further translated into a campaign for sound cultural change. The campaign challenges the ICU management team and nurses to establish a ‘collectivistic sound culture’, in which every individual nurse commits to the group effort and goal to create a more peaceful sound environment in the ICU. ... Read more

Virtual assistants are rapidly growing in popularity, triggering businesses around the world to explore their applicability. From a user perspective,, having a conversational interaction with technology has certain advantages, as it is easy to use, hands-free and eye-free. Despite the fact that Transavia already released its first steps with the assistant, there is still minor knowledge about how it can be used effectively to engage with the customer. A techy, social and young customer group - often referred to as Generation Z - is interacting with technology and brands in a very different way than Millenials. As a starting point, a preliminary design goal is formulated which links the technology and the user to an early touch point in Transavia’s customer journey: ​“Design a virtual assistant for Transavia that offers added value in helping Generation Z with finding and/or booking flights”. The contexts of four aspects are analysed: business, process, user and technology, which together lay the foundation for the subsequent user studies. The studies show the flight finding and -booking behaviour of Generation Z, as well as their current and preferred interactions with virtual assistants. Based on the outcomes the witty assistant ‘Tracy’ is conceptualised and piloted using the Google Assistant and Lenovo Smart Display. Tracy focuses on the moment right before booking called pre-booking, and recommends Generation Z affordable trips based on their availability. Alongside user tests the prototype goes through three iterations to optimise various aspects of the design: tone-of-voice, product personality, content and conversational flow. The final design is intended to be feasible for a short term release, and proved there lies true potential in using a conversational interface to engage with Generation Z in the pre-booking phase. Finally, recommendations are proposed for Transavia to support them when continuing with either Tracy or with virtual assistance in general. ... Read more

Relevance -
Autonomous cars can offer many benefits and potentially nullify the road accidents caused by human error (94%). One of the threats, however, is the mode transitions between the levels of automation. In a highly automated vehicle (level 4), the vehicle can drive completely autonomous, but only during a defined use case after which the user has to take over. This leads to sudden changes in workload which can be detrimental to driving safety. The current designs do not acknowledge these safety issues yet. Therefore the goal of this project is to design a system where the transitions to and from autonomous driving in a highly automated car are comfortable and safe. The project is executed in collaboration with the design agency VanBerlo.

Literature study -
A literature study led to the identification of seven human-factors issues that affect the transitions between levels of vehicle automation, expected to emerge between 2020 and 2032: Vigilance decrements, complacency, manual skill decay, motion sickness, loss of situational awareness, predictability of the car and mode transitions
For automated driving, being a new development, it seems recommendable that the design should focus on building trust with the system and creating a built-in co-pilot that supports the driver in the new, more complex cockpit.
These different automation modes have been divided in assisted driving and autonomous driving with the difference being that in the latter one the system is responsible. In assisted driving, automated features like adaptive cruise control (ACC) and lane keeping can still be used making the system more complex. During autonomous driving, three measurable user states have been defined. Different studies show it takes 30-5 minutes from a sleeping state, 40 seconds from an inattentive state and 8 seconds from an attentive state to get back to the right driving performance level.

Field research -
A test ride with a partial-automated vehicle (Tesla model S) shows minimal feedback from the automated features which leads to confusion. Also, trust was a reoccurring issue emphasised during this ride. Observing six students of a driving instructor during the lessons show unsolved issues in planning, traffic rules and communication. Calm, clear and structured feedback from the instructor was favoured. The driving instructor emphasises the importance of communication to other road users.

Design goal -
The research concludes in the design goal: ‘Make the transitions between fully automated and assisted driving safer by increasing the situational awareness when needed, re-engaging driver vigilance, avoiding mode confusion and establish trust with the system.’

Design -
During assisted driving the HUD shows in combination with augmented reality what the status is of ACC and lane keeping and visualises their functionality to prevent confusion. Levers behind the steering wheel are used to control these features. Holding both activates autonomous driving. The steering wheel provides haptic feedback to indicate the take over after which it retracts as a strong symbolic message of giving the steering wheel to the system.
A framework is designed based on the literature research to facilitate the transition back to assisted driving where situational awareness and driver vigilance increase stepwise before a take over. Haptic feedback in the seat emphasises and pushes the user in the desired user state. If the desired user state is not met afterwards, auditive feedback is used to warn the user until the user state is met. These modalities are always combined with visual feedback to make the message clear. Holding both levers again initiated assisted driving. The steering wheel comes back as a symbolic message of taking the wheel and provides haptic feedback at the point of take over.

Evaluation -
A qualitative study with an interactive prototype, potential users and experts on automated driving is done to evaluate the design. It shows that the feedback modalities of the design work to facilitate the transitions. It is expected, however, that the steering wheel is presented back to the user in an earlier stage to initiate the take over. It remains unclear how the augmented elements work to facilitate ACC and lane keeping.
Next steps should be to evaluate the design further and design a system that communicates with other road users and add more functionality to the retracting steering wheel. ... Read more