The effect of joystick handle size and gain at two levels of required precision on performance and physical load on crane operators

The study was designed to determine the effect of joystick handle size and (display-control) gain at two levels of required task precision on performance and physical load on crane operators. Eight experienced crane operators performed a simulated crane operation task on a computer by use of a joystick with either a short or a large handle. The...

Edge integration and the perception of brightness and darkness

How do induced brightness and darkness signals from local and remote surfaces interact to determine the final achromatic color percept of a target surface? An emerging theory of achromatic color perception posits that brightness and darkness percepts are computed by weighting and summing the induction signals generated at edges in a scene. This...

Presenting directions with a vibrotactile torso display

Vibrotactile displays covering the torso present spatial information in an intuitive way since the stimuli are directly mapped to the body coordinates; left is left, front is front, etc. The present study investigated the direction in the horizontal plane to which a specific torso location is mapped using a 15 tactor linear display. Participants...

Image parameters for driving with indirect viewing systems

Indirect viewing systems such as tv cameras can potentially support drivers under low visibility conditions or when the driver's field of view (FOV) is restricted. In three experiments, we identified the critical image parameters of such systems on vehicle control. We used a taskbattery that measured lateral and longitudinal vehicle control in...

Multichannel speech intelligibility and talker recognition using monaural, biaural and three-dimentional auditory presentation

In a 3D auditory display sounds are presented over headphones in a way that they seem to originate from virtual sources in a space around the listener. This paper describes a study on the possible merits of such a display for bandlimited speech with respect to intelligibility and talker recognition against a background of competing voices....

Evaluation of a sitting aid: The Back-Up

The effects of a portable back support, the Back-Up, were tested in 28 variables. Both subjective and objective physical load measures were recorded during sitting with and without Back-Up, most of them during VDU work. The main result was that the posture of the upper back and neck/head was improved by the Back-Up. However, the knee straps...