Design and Development of a Portable Auditory Situation Awareness Training (PASAT) System
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
IIE Annual Conference Proceedings
Abstract
Auditory situation awareness (ASA) is essential for safety and survivability in military operations where many of the hazards are not immediately visible. Unfortunately, the Hearing Protection Devices (HPDs) required to operate in these environments can impede auditory localization performance. Promisingly, recent studies have exhibited the plasticity of the human auditory system by demonstrating that training can improve auditory localization ability while wearing HPDs, including military Tactical Communications and Protective Systems (TCAPS). As a result, the U.S. military identified the need for a portable system capable of imparting auditory localization acquisition skills at similar levels to those demonstrated in laboratory environments. The purpose of this investigation was to design and develop a Portable Auditory Situation Awareness Training (PASAT) system capable of reproducing acoustically accurate localization cues similar to a proven laboratory grade system. Extensive research of components and equipment helped ensure optimal performance and packaging of the PASAT system. Selection of these components included a formal decision algorithm developed for optimizing component selection decisions for human-equipment systems. The innovative PASAT system consists of an accordion-style, collapsible frame housing 32-loudspeaker capable of training 360-degrees of azimuth and 60-degrees of elevation operated by a user-controlled tablet computer. Two human factors experiments and a usability study demonstrated the effectiveness of the PASAT system to test and train localization and to detect differences in performance between hearing protection devices.
Description
item.page.type
Conference presentations, papers, posters
item.page.format
Keywords
Auditory situation awareness (ASA), Tactical Communications and Protective Systems (TCAPS), Portable Auditory Situation Awareness Training (PASAT)
Citation
Thompson, Brandon S., John G. Casali, Kichol Lee, and Kara M. Cave. 2021. Design and development of a portable auditory situation awareness training (PASAT) system. IIE Annual Conference Proceedings: 566-571, https://login.usmalibrary.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/design-development-portable-auditory-situation/docview/2560889033/se-2 (accessed November 13, 2023).