In-flight navigation using head-coupled and aircraft-coupled spatial audio cues

A flight test was conducted to evaluate how effectively spatialized audio cues could be used to maneuver a general aviation aircraft through a complex navigation course. Two conditions were tested: a headcoupled condition, where audio cues were updated in response to changes in the orientation of the pilot's head, and an aircraft-coupled condition, where audio cues were updated in response to changes in the direction of the aircraft. Both cueing conditions resulted in excellent performance, with the pilots on average passing within 0.25 nm of the waypoints on the navigation course. However, overall performance was better in the aircraft-coupled condition than in the head-coupled condition. This result is discussed in terms of an alignment mismatch between the pilot's frame of reference and that of the aircraft, which is critical when using spatial audio to cue the desired orientation of the vehicle rather than the location of an object in space.