Effects of multitasking on interpreting a spearcon sequence display for monitoring multiple patients.

Spearcons are time-compressed speech phrases. When arranged in a sequence representing vital signs of multiple patients, spearcons may be more informative than conventional auditory alarms. However, multiple resource theory suggests that certain timeshared tasks might interfere with listeners' ability to understand spearcons.

Enhanced Neonatal Pulse Oximetry Sounds for the First Minutes of Life: A Laboratory Trial.

Objective: Auditory enhancements to the pulse oximetry tone may help clinicians detect deviations from target ranges for oxygen saturation (SpO) and heart rate (HR).

Background: Clinical guidelines recommend target ranges for SpO and HR during neonatal resuscitation in the first 10 minutes after birth. The pulse oximeter currently maps HR to tone rate, and SpO to tone pitch.

Attention to Changes on a Head-Worn Display: Two Preclinical Studies with Healthcare Scenarios.

Objective: In two experiments, we examined how quickly different visual alerts on a head-worn display (HWD) would capture participants' attention to a matrix of patient vital sign values, while multitasking.

Background: An HWD could help clinicians monitor multiple patients, regardless of where the clinician is located. We sought effective ways for HWDs to alert multitasking wearers to important events.

The Use of Head-Worn Displays for Vital Sign Monitoring in Critical and Acute Care: Systematic Review.

Background: Continuous monitoring of patient vital signs may improve patient outcomes. Head-worn displays (HWDs) can provide hands-free access to continuous vital sign information of patients in critical and acute care contexts and thus may reduce instances of unrecognized patient deterioration.

Objective: The purpose of the study is to conduct a systematic review of the literature to evaluate clinical, surrogate, and process outcomes when clinicians use HWDs for continuous patient vital sign monitoring.

Spearcon compression levels influence the gap in comprehension between untrained and trained listeners.

Auditory alarms in hospitals are ambiguous and do not provide enough information to support doctors and nurses' awareness of patient events. A potential alternative is the use of short segments of time-compressed speech, or However, sometimes it might be desirable for patients to understand spearcons and sometimes not. We used reverse hierarchy theory to hypothesize that there will be a degree of compression where spearcons are intelligible for trained listeners but not for untrained listeners.

Evaluation of an enhanced pulse oximeter auditory display: a simulaion study.

Background: We compared anaesthetists' ability to identify haemoglobin oxygen saturation (SpO) levels using two auditory displays: one based on a standard pulse oximeter display (varying pitch plus alarm) and the other enhanced with additional sound properties (varying pitch plus tremolo and acoustic brightness) to differentiate SpO ranges.

Methods: In a counter-balanced crossover study in a simulator, 20 experienced anaesthetists supervised a junior colleague (an actor) managing two airway surgery scenarios: once while using the enhanced auditory display and once while using a standard auditory display. Participants were distracted with other tasks such as paperwork and workplace interruptions, but were required to identify when SpO transitioned between pre-set ranges (target, low, critical) and when other vital signs transitioned out of a target range.

Smooth or Stepped? Laboratory Comparison of Enhanced Sonifications for Monitoring Patient Oxygen Saturation.

Background: The pulse oximeter (PO) provides anesthesiologists with continuous visual and auditory information about a patient's oxygen saturation (SpO). However, anesthesiologists' attention is often diverted from visual displays, and clinicians may inaccurately judge SpO values when relying on conventional PO auditory tones. We tested whether participants could identify SpO value (e.