Citation

Sheffield B, Ziriax J, Keller MD, Barns W, Brungart D. Proc. Hum. Factors Ergon. Soc. Annu. Meet. 2017; 61(1): 1570-1574.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1541931213601757

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Despite attempts to limit noise exposure, noise-induced hearing loss remains prevalent in the military. Both hearing loss and the noise itself can lead to communication issues which could negatively impact operational performance. This study builds upon a series of experiments examining the relationship between reduced speech intelligibility and performance in a naval command and control environment by equipping Navy watch standers with hearing loss simulators that control speech intelligibility in real time as they were engaged in a simulated operational scenario. This effort focused on the effects that a Sailor with impaired hearing might have on unimpaired shipmates and how the mission might specifically be impacted.

RESULTS showed that as speech intelligibility decreased for the impaired watch stander perceived workload increased in an unimpaired shipmate and the latency of the crew to respond to incoming missile threats and a direct order to kill an enemy ship increased significantly.

Language: en