Listen to Your Drive: An In-Vehicle Sonification Prototyping Tool for Driver State and Performance Data

Abstract

Automotive UI designers are searching for alternative avenues for delivering information to the driver that complement the mostly visual task of driving. Auditory channels provide the flexibility to display a wide variety of information to the driver without increasing the workload of driving task. It is important to identify types of auditory displays and sonification strategies that provide integral information necessary for the driving task, and not overload the driver with unnecessary or intrusive data. To this end, we have developed an in-vehicle interactive sonification system using the medium-fidelity simulator and neurophysiological devices. The system is intended to integrate driving performance data and driver affective state data in real-Time. The present paper introduces the architecture of our in-vehicle interactive sonification system and potential sonification strategies for providing feedback to the driver in an intuitive and nonintrusive manner.