Optimizing multimodal alarms to mitigate inattentional blindness in air traffic control

Abstract

This study evaluates the effectiveness of multimodal alarms in reducing inattentional blindness (i.e., the inability to detect unexpected visual stimuli), a critical safety concern in air traffic control (ATC). Two experiments were conducted: the first assessed the attention-capturing ability of multimodal alarms with visual, vibrotactile, and auditory alerting components in a simulated ATC task with 29 student controllers, using electroencephalography (EEG), questionnaires, and performance metrics. The second assessed the effectiveness of visual ambient alarms with reduced opacity and duration with 28 students. Results indicated that multimodal alarms significantly reduced missed alarms compared to the standard ATC alarm, but were perceived as more urgent and annoying. Notably, even low-opacity (5%) and brief (17 ms) visual ambient alarms were effective. These findings provide insights for optimizing alarm designs in safety-critical environments such as aviation, healthcare, and nuclear power.