Overview

Project status: In progress

Visual and auditory distractors

With the introduction and proliferation of many new technologies such as mobile phones, night vision systems, heads-up displays and satellite navigation systems, the automobile cabin is now more complicated than ever.

The question then arises of how drivers can attend to these in-vehicle devices and the driving environment simultaneously and safely.

The vision and driving research team have conducted numerous studies that examine the performance of younger and older drivers when exposed to visual and auditory distracter tasks.

Further studies are currently being conducted to investigate these relationships in drivers with a range of visual, hearing and cognitive impairments.


Research leader
Organisational unit
Lead unit Faculty of Health Other units
Research area
Vision Improvement
 

Publications and output

  1. Chaparro A, Wood JM, Carberry TP. (2005) Effects of age and auditory and visual-dual tasks on driving performance. Optometry and Vision Science, 82: 747-754.
  2. Wood JM, Chaparro A, Hickson L. (2009). Interaction between vision distracter modality and age on measures of daytime driving performance. Vision Research, 49(17):2225-31.
  3. Hickson L, Wood JM, Chaparro A, Lacherez P, Marszalek R. Hearing impairment affects older people's ability to drive in the presence of distracters. Journal of the American Geriatric Society. (accepted 29/12/09)