Danger or avoidance indication: Dynamics interact with semantics in auditory icons to avoid collisions

This study investigates how auditory icons with inherent meanings and dynamics in collision warnings affect warning message enhancement in driving. An experiment involving 36 participants was conducted. These participants were randomly presented with three types of warning sounds, including two auditory icons with different semantics (i.e., an avoidance-indicated auditory icon horn and a danger-indicated auditory icon collision) and an “earcon” (with an abstract pure tone). Each warning sound had dynamic and static forms. Results show that the danger-indicated auditory icons and earcons led to better driving performance than the avoidance-indicated auditory icons for brake reaction time, time to collision, and time to throttle release. Meanwhile, both the danger- and avoidance-indicated auditory icons were more efficient, emergent, likable, and intelligible than earcons. Dynamic sounds also resulted in stronger braking. When designing auditory icons, the impact of both their inherent meanings and dynamics on the subjective experience of drivers should be considered. Design principles of anti-collision auditory warning systems were proposed to indicate hazards in driving and assist drivers in an emergency, contributing to warning and ergonomics in the design industrial field. •Auditory icons with rich information are preferred over abstract sounds.•Danger-indicated auditory icons have advantages over avoidance-indicated auditory icons in warning effectiveness.•Dynamic sounds can cause forceful braking and compensate for auditory icon mapping with weaker semantic relationships.