Investigating the Effect of Performing Voice Recognition Tasks on the Detection of Forward and Peripheral Events

This research investigates the ability of a driver to detect forward and peripheral events while driving and interacting with a voice recognition system. Thirty-seven participants took part in a driving experiment on a closed highway. Participants performed phone dialing tasks using either a voice recognition system simulation or a manual cell phone while driving. Participants also monitored two lights: one mounted on the hood of the vehicle and one on the left side mirror. Participants were instructed to press a foot pedal when a light appeared (i.e., event). Data were collected on drivers' glance locations as well as their responses to events. Results suggested that voice recognition dialing generally resulted in better visual scanning of the environment and response time to events than manual dialing. In addition, for younger participants, performance using the voice recognition system was similar to baseline driving, while older participants showed performance decrements for all tasks relative to baseline driving.