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Evaluation of Habituation to Alerts in Locomotive Cabs

Document Series
Technical Reports
Author
Kelly Ozdemir; Kianna Pirooz; Maura Campbell; Timothy Allen; Matthew Isaacs; Lafcadio Flint
Report Number
DOT/FRA/ORD-24/36
Office
RDI-24
Subject Research, Human Factors
Keywords
Habituation; inattentional deafness; alarm fatigue; locomotive engineer; Positive Train Control; PTC; alerter; human factors

From September 2019 to May 2022, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) funded KEA Technologies Inc. to conduct a pilot study using a rail simulator to determine whether engineers can become habituated to auditory alerts while operating a locomotive. Habituation, in this case, is a behavior where the engineer becomes less responsive to an alarm or alert because of its highly repeated or too frequent sounding. Because of habituation, the design and presentation of alarms and alerts to the engineer and how he/she responds becomes an important safety issue. The team completed a short series of pilot studies with a limited number of engineer participants using FRA’s Cab Technology Integration Lab. However, in the studies, the team did not observe habituation behavior. While conducting the studies in a simulated environment offered more controlled settings, further observations aboard locomotives in actual operational settings is recommended.


Last updated: Thursday, September 12, 2024