Auditory Information Improves Time-to-collision Estimation for Accelerating Vehicles

Wessels, Marlene; Zähme, Carolina; Oberfeld, Daniel · 2023 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03375-6

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Summary

This study investigates whether auditory information improves pedestrians' estimation of time-to-collision (TTC) for accelerating vehicles, addressing a gap in research regarding the role of sound in dynamic traffic scenarios. While previous studies established that visual TTC estimates for accelerating objects are often erroneous due to poor visual sensitivity to acceleration, the impact of auditory cues in these specific contexts remained unexplored. The authors hypothesized that the characteristic sound profile of an accelerating vehicle could compensate for visual estimation errors by promoting the consideration of acceleration, thereby enhancing traffic safety. The researchers conducted an experiment with 25 participants using a virtual reality simulation of an urban traffic scene. Participants viewed an approaching vehicle from a pedestrian’s perspective and estimated the TTC by pressing a button when they believed the vehicle would arrive at their position. The study employed a within-subjects design manipulating two factors: presentation condition (audiovisual vs. visual-only) and vehicle motion profile (constant velocity vs. acceleration). Auditory stimuli were generated from real recordings of a gasoline-powered vehicle, processed through a source-based acoustic simulation to account for distance-dependent sound propagation and spatial cues. Vehicles approached at initial velocities of 10 km/h or 40 km/h, with acceleration trials involving a constant acceleration of approximately 2 m/s². The results demonstrated a significant improvement in TTC estimation accuracy when auditory information was present for accelerating vehicles. In the visual-only condition, participants exhibited a "first-order" estimation pattern, significantly overestimating the TTC, particularly for vehicles with longer actual TTCs and slower initial velocities. This pattern indicates that participants failed to adequately account for acceleration. However, in the audiovisual condition, this overestimation pattern was largely eliminated, and TTC estimates were significantly more accurate and closer to veridical values. For vehicles traveling at constant velocity, TTC estimates were predominantly accurate in both conditions, with only a minor, statistically significant difference where visual-only estimates were slightly shorter than audiovisual ones. The findings conclude that auditory information plays a crucial role in correcting erroneous visual TTC estimates for accelerating vehicles. The sound of an accelerating vehicle likely provides cues that help observers incorporate acceleration into their predictions, compensating for the limitations of visual acceleration detection. This has important implications for traffic safety, particularly regarding the risks associated with quieter electric vehicles or pedestrians wearing noise-cancelling headphones, as the absence of these auditory cues may lead to dangerous overestimations of available crossing time.

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Topics

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• time to collision looming
• pedestrian behavior perception
• auditory warnings
• speed distance perception