A novel noise assessment method based on human core competency

Abstract

The tough noise environment in helicopter cockpit can passively influence pilots in mental and physical way, weaken their core competency, and as a result, maybe causing pilot error and even accidents. The current research can evaluate the physical characteristics of noise and its impact on emotion such as noise annoyance, but it ignores the impact of cockpit noise on human competence. Therefore, this paper establishes a noise evaluation and prediction model based on core competence with task performance, cognitive load and eye movement data. Experiment is designed and implemented in three noise levels and three task difficulties to verify the model. The results indicate that: 1) core competency and task accuracy decline in higher noise levels significantly. 2) the noise assessment method based on core competency can accurately predict the influence of noise on human performance. This novel method can quantitatively reflect the impact of noise changes on human performance in emergency condition. It can expand the connotation of noise evaluation, provide the evaluation and control of cockpit noise with theoretical explanations, and provide the optimization design of helicopter cockpit with practical data.