An Analysis of Problems with Auditory Alarms: Defining the Roles of Alarms in Process Monitoring Tasks

Based on reported observations of interactions between human operators and alarm mechanisms in patient care, aviation, and process control, it is proposed that the roles of alarms in process monitoring tasks should be viewed more as a way of informing process status and less as an way of interpreting the significance of process status.

Abstract

It has become a standard practice to use auditory alarm devices to enhance human monitoring performance in monitoring tasks. However, the effectiveness of such practice has been-challenged from time to time, which leads to the fundamental question of what roles alarms should and could assume. This paper reviews reported observations of interactions between human operators and alarm mechanisms in patient care, aviation, and process control. Based on the reviews, we propose that the roles of alarms in process monitoring tasks should be viewed more as a way of informing process status and less as a way of interpreting the significance of process status. The roles can best be understood in the skill-, rule-, and knowledge-based performance framework. Implications to alarm and auditory designs are discussed. Specifically, design of alarm devices should be guided by the principle of information provision regardless of whether an alarm may be true or false indication of “alarming” events.