With the growing share of bicycle traffic in German cities, conflicts at intersections are becoming increasingly prominent – especially dangerous situations between motor vehicles turning right and cyclists traveling straight ahead. Infrastructure-based warning systems used to date mostly work with optical signals (e.g., flashing lights) that address all road users in the vicinity in a non-specific manner. This leads to a high rate of false alarms, habituation effects (“cry wolf effect”), and thus decreasing effectiveness. Together with our partners Fraunhofer HHI and DLR e.V., we are addressing this issue and investigating how directional acoustic warning signals – generated by loudspeaker arrays with beamforming – can be targeted specifically at those who are actually affected by a potential conflict situation, without unnecessarily disturbing passers-by or residents.

HFC Human-Factors-Consult GmbH is responsible in particular for the perceptual psychology study and user-centered evaluation of the innovative warning strategy. For this purpose, an immersive VR environment based on a real urban intersection was set up, in which test subjects experience typical traffic situations from the perspective of cyclists, pedestrians, and residents. Based on the acoustic simulation, HFC evaluates how well different warning signals are perceived and interpreted as warnings. In addition, the potential for disturbance to unaddressed groups (especially residents) was investigated. The aim is to derive concrete recommendations for the design of the signals and for the positioning and alignment of the loudspeaker systems, which will support local authorities and manufacturers in planning effective warning systems that cause as little disturbance as possible.

The SOUNDWARN project was funded as part of the mFUND program. Further information on the project can be found in the BMV project profile.