The Effects of Music and Natural Sounds on Driving Performance and Safety:A Case Study Simulated Driving on Urban Roadways

Due to the penetration of multimedia and smart phones,driving while listening music is common and therefore it is necessary to investigate effects of natural sounds,classical music,and hard rock music on driving perform-ance and physiology of drivers.This study utilized natural sounds as a stimulus for driving performance.Thirty six partici-pants (N = 36)completed two drives on a section of a simulated urban road in a simulator:one with natural sounds, classical music,and hard rock music;the other without sounds (control condition).Furthermore,driving performance and heart rate of participants are studied to determine physiological indicators of arousal during each of driving condition of 18 min.The results of mixed MANOVA analysis show that the auditory stimulus has a significant effect on coherence, delay response,and heart rate.Study results show that hard rock music increases heart rate during the experimental ses-sions (heart rate=86.7 BPM).Listening to hard rock music has negative effects on driving performance and physiology of drivers.More importantly,listening to natural sounds had positive effect on accuracy of car following (coherence=0.76) and response latencies to speed changes of the lead vehicle (delay response=3.9 s).In terms of attention and concentra-tion,this study indicates that listening to natural sounds magnify driving capabilities.Moreover,interactions between au-ditory stimulus and gender have significant effects on driving performance and physiology of drivers.