ABSTRACT
Karen L. Stephan, Sean E. Smith, Simon P. A. Parker, Russell L. Martin and Ken 1. McAnally
Air Operations Division, Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Australia
Introduction
Warnings may be presented in several ways, the norm being via the visual or auditory modalities. The primary purpose of a warning is to alert and inform (Edworthy & Stanton, 1995; Wheale, 1981), as well as to guide the response. For a warning to be effective the signal used should be recognisable as a warning and the operator must be aware of both what the signal represents and the action that is required. Within the modern military cockpit, the visual channel is often overloaded, and auditory warnings provide a method to alleviate this. Due to the unique nature of the auditory system, auditory warnings can attract attention regardless of either the operator's head/eye position, or what task they are engaged in. In this way, our sense of hearing acts as a natural warning sense (Edworthy & Stanton, 1999).
