Responding to clinical alarms in unfolding simulated clinical scenarios: auditory icons perform better than tonal alarms
Authors' conclusion
Auditory icons are more effective than tonal alarms.
Study context
- Population
- Volunteer participants monitoring three 4-min simulated clinical scenarios (cardiac, oxygenation, technical) while performing a separate vigilance task
- Comparison
- Auditory icon alarms vs tonal alarms
- Outcome
- Alarm response accuracy and speed
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
F (accuracy)
23.48
P < 0.05
eta2=0.32; more accurate with auditory icons
F (response speed)
20.357
P < 0.001
eta2=0.51; quicker with auditory icons
Further findings
Vigilance task performance
- Higher alarm performance not at the expense of vigilance task performance
Learning method (Hazard vs sequence of events (Sequence))
- No effect of learning the sounds as Hazards or as a Sequence
Original publication
Responding to clinical alarms in unfolding simulated clinical scenarios: auditory icons perform better than tonal alarms. Br J Anaesth. Published 20 March 2025. doi:10.
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