Enhanced Auditory Alert Systems

Auditory warning systems for human interfaces are often designed around criteria that depend primarily upon signal loudness. It is well understood from the auditory literature that, by making an alert signal substantially louder than the measured background noise level, one can insure that an alert signal will be detectable. Such auditory alert systems have been used in the aviation industry for a number of years in order to raise the awareness of the crew for terrain proximity, for example. However, if an alert signal amplitude is too loud, the alert signal may produce a “startle effect” that hinders performance in some high-stress situations.