The objective of the study was to investigate multi-modality effects (visual and auditory) on the perception of urgency in elderly individuals addressing issues of safety and comfort. Twenty individuals (10 young, 10 elderly) from Montgomery County of Virginia participated in the laboratory study. In the pre-experimental audiometric tests, as expected elderly individuals had higher hearing thresholds (dBHL) than young across all the frequencies (250, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz) of pure tones. The difference was more pronounced at 4000 Hz. In visual acuity tests administered, elderly individuals had a lower Snellen VA than young at both near and far distances. The participants also were administered Bausch and Lomb color test; all participants were able to differentiate red color. Method of adjustment was used to collect empirical data. Rating test was administered after every treatment to objectively assess the participants' feeling of perceived urgency associated with the auditory warning signal. All the participants rated the experimental sound as urgent. Repeated measures was conducted to remove variations due to time and treatment conditions. A mixed-factorial design was used to investigate the main and interaction effects. The age effect was found to be marginally statistically significant. Modality and trial effects were not found to be significant. The reanalysis conducted after removal of outliers resulted in marginal statistical significance for age and modality main effects. Although not significant, a trend was seen in the pulse intensity levels (dBL) across modalities in the elderly individuals. Future research should be conducted to investigate modality effects in elderly individuals in a naturalistic driving environment which would give a better insight of the effects of dual modalities. / Master of Science

The objective of the present study was to understand how the visual and mental processes work in tandem to affect the overall information processing capability of the individual, especially the older population, in a dynamic visual task such as driving. More specifically, our aim was to understand how the different parameters related to display of visual information in an in-vehicle display system and the age of the subject affect the information processing performance. The effects of stimulus distance, target size, display time, bits of information and the age group of the subject (young versus old) on the reading performance (information processing ability) under photopic and scotopic viewing conditions were thoroughly investigated in this study. Fifty-six individuals (28 young, 28 elderly) from the Montgomery County region were tested in the study in a mixed factorial repeated measures design with age as between subjects and the other independent variables as within subjects. The dependent variable was the reading score, i.e., the number of letters correctly identified. Results obtained from this study revealed that all of the independent variables had significant effects on the reading performance of the participants, except ambient illumination. Specifically, age has an important influence on the specific values of the design parameters. Also, these parameters interact among themselves so that one can be used to compensate for the other. These results can be used for developing the most relevant and optimal in-vehicle visual displays for the older population. / Master of Science

This master’s thesis is focused on elderly drivers‘ behavior in various traffic situations and its comparison with a group of drivers in their productive years. The first part of the thesis compiles the current state of knowledge of the matter with a focus on age-related changes in driver performance. The analytical part is dedicated to the evaluation of the data collected from test drive video recordings. The data is evaluated to determine time spent on risk area assessments and habits of the groups. The added value and possible limitations given by the methodology are evaluated in the final part of the thesis.

Cette thèse en Cognitique se focalise sur la « Conception Centrée sur l'Humain » (Human Centred Design) de futures assistances à la conduite automobile, adaptées aux conducteurs âgés (ou Elderly Adapted Driver Assistance Systems).Pour ce faire, la démarche proposée repose sur une approche et une méthodologie pluridisciplinaire. Sur le plan ergonomique, il s'agit de mieux connaître les spécificitésde la population des conducteurs âgés, dans le but d'identifier des difficultés et des besoins en assistance. A cette fin, 76 conducteurs âgés (de 70 à 87 ans) ont conduitun véhicule instrumenté, immergé dans le trafic. Le corpus de données comporte2100 kilomètres de conduite et 1400 situations de conduite autoévaluées par lesconducteurs, complétés par 6 Focus Group (30 conducteurs âgés).Le second volet, relevant d'une démarche d'Ingénierie Cognitive, vise à concevoir et développer des fonctions de « monitorage » à partir du corpus de données. L'objectif est de disposer de modèles et de fonctions d'analyse temps-réel capables (1) de superviser l'activité de conduite des conducteurs âgés (2) en regard du contexte ou des risques situationnels, afin de (3) diagnostiquer des difficultés ou erreurs de conduite, à des fins d’adaptativité des assistances. Des fonctions de monitorage en lien avec les contrôles de base du véhicule (gestion de la vitesse, positionnement dans la voie et la gestion de l'espace inter-véhiculaire avant) sont développées. Sur cette base, des fonctions de monitorage plus intégrées pour l'aide aux franchissements d'intersections (Tourne-à-Gauche) et l'assistance à l'insertion sur voies rapides (et au changement de voie) sont également proposées. / This thesis in Cognitics presents a Human Centered Design approach for thedevelopment of future driving assistance systems dedicated to elderly drivers orElderly Adapted Driver Assistance Systems (E-ADAS).To do so, this work relies on a multi-disciplinary approach for data collection andanalysis. Regarding Ergonomics, the aim is to better understand the specificrequirements of this population in order to identify their actual difficulties and actualneeds of assistance. In this frame, 76 drivers (aged from 70 to 87 years old) took partto an on-the-road experiment, driving an instrumented car. The dataset includes2100 km of ecological driving data and 1400 auto-evaluated driving situations,completed by 6 Focus Groups (involving 30 elderly drivers).The second part of this research, relying on Cognitive Engineering, explores thedesign and implementation of monitoring functions based on the aforementioneddataset. The objective is to have real-time models and analytical functions, able to:(1) supervise the driving activity as realized by an elderly driver, (2) taking in toconsideration the driving context or situational risks (3) in order to detect difficulties ordriving errors. Beyond this thesis, these diagnostics will have to be integrated inassistive systems to better adapt their support to the specific needs of elderly drivers.Specific monitoring functions related to basic vehicle control (speed management,lane positioning and headway regulation) are presented. Based on these results,integrated monitoring functions for intersection crossings in Left-Turn manoeuver,highway merging assistance, and, more broadly, lane change assistance areintroduced.