Driver distraction is a major contributor to car crashes, and visual distraction caused by using invehicle infotainment systems (IVIS) degrades driving performance and increases crash risk. Air gesture interfaces were developed to mitigate for driver distraction, and using auditory displays showed a decrease in off-road glances and an improved perceived workload. However, the design of auditory displays was not fully investigated. This thesis presents directional research in the design of auditory displays for air-gesture IVIS through two dual-task experiments of driving a simulator and air-gesture menu navigation. Experiment 1 with 32 participants employed a 2x4 mixed-model design, and explored the effect of four auditory display conditions (auditory icon, earcon, spearcon, and no-sound) and two menu-generation interfaces (fixed and adaptive) on driving performance, eye glance behavior, secondary task performance and subjective perception. Each auditory display (within-subjects) was tested with both a fixed and adaptive menu-generation interface (between-subjects). Results from Experiment 1 demonstrated that spearcon provided the least visual distraction, least workload, best system usability and was favored by participants; and that fixed menu generation outperformed adaptive menu generation in driving safety and secondary task performance. Experiment 2 with 24 participants utilized the best interface to emerge from Experiment 1 to further explore the auditory display with the most potential: spearcon. 70% spearcon and 40% spearcon were compared to text-to-speech (TTS) and no audio conditions. Results from Experiment 2 showed that 70% spearcon induced less visual distraction than 40% spearcon, and that 70% spearcon resulted in the most accurate but slowest secondary task selections. Experimental results are discussed in the context of the multiple resource theory and the working memory model, design guidelines are proposed, and future work is discussed. / Master of Science / Driver distraction is a major cause of car accidents, and using in-vehicle infotainment systems (IVIS) while driving can distract drivers and increase the risk of crashes. Air gesture interfaces and auditory displays were created to help reduce driver distraction, and using auditory displays has been shown to decrease the number of times a driver looks away from the road and to improve the perceived workload of the driver. However, the design of auditory displays has not been thoroughly studied. This study examined the design of auditory displays for air gesture IVIS through two experiments in which participants drove a simulator and used air gesture menus while navigating. The first experiment, which included 32 participants, looked at the effect of four different types of auditory displays (auditory icon, earcon, spearcon, and no sound) and two different types of menu-generation interfaces (fixed and adaptive) on driving performance, eye glance behavior, secondary task performance, and subjective perception. The second experiment, which included 24 participants, compared the use of 70% and 40% spearcon displays to text-to-speech and no audio conditions. The results of these experiments showed that using spearcon displays resulted in the least visual distraction and workload, the best system usability, and the most accurate but slowest secondary task selections. These findings are discussed in relation to existing theories of how the brain processes multiple tasks, and design guidelines for auditory displays are proposed for future research.