Impact of External Audio on Driving Task Performance in Simulated under Armor Environments

As part of technology maturation efforts, the COAT Lab evaluated the impact of external audio on driving performance in simulated under amor environments. To do so, we conducted an Engineering Evaluation Test (EET) wherein participants were asked to drive a simulated military vehicle through a Slalom course (primary task) while monitoring for aerial threats (secondary task). Using a combination of objective and subjective metrics, this evaluation quantified participants’ ability to maneuver and detect threats while using external audio as an enabling technology. Evaluation results indicated external audio positively benefited driving performance and situation awareness. However, evaluation results also indicated that external audio was not sufficient in and of itself for detecting time-sensitive aerial threats. Together, these results suggest a development path forward in which external audio is combined with visual information to enhance crew situation awareness under armor.