Beyond Beeps
Evaluating Soundscapes for Take-Over Situations in Automated Vehicles
S. Kim (TU Delft - Traffic Systems Engineering, TU Delft - Human Technology Relations)
Pavlo Bazilinskyy (Eindhoven University of Technology)
K. Liang (TU Delft - Traffic Systems Engineering)
R. van Egmond (TU Delft - Perceptual Intelligence)
R. Happee (TU Delft - Intelligent Vehicles)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
In automated vehicles, beeps are widely used as alarms and feedback. However, as automation advances, there is a need to explore subtler, contextually sound-based notifications for non-urgent situations. While auditory interfaces for take-over requests have been studied, limited attention has been given to using soundscapes for such alerts. This paper designed and evaluated soundscapes using existing driving-related sounds–amplified road noise and/or dimmed background music–for scheduled take-over situations. A driving simulator study showed that these soundscapes enhanced reaction time, situation awareness, and acceptance without causing annoyance. Particularly, the combined condition (music dimming and road noise amplifying) supported higher driver awareness and responsiveness. These findings suggest that soundscapes can offer safer, more intuitive take-over alerts by embedding information into familiar audio cues. This study contributes to developing soundscapes as novel alert mechanisms that integrate seamlessly with the driving environment to enhance both safety and user experience in automated vehicles.
help_outline