Virtual reality in the study of warnings effectiveness

Abstract

Warnings are a very important method to control hazards and to promote safety. Despite its importance, warnings have important gaps that limit their validity and make its design so difficult. In this sense, warnings effectiveness evaluation is crucial to guarantee effective people safety. However, warnings traditional evaluation methodologies have several limitations. To this extent, the main purpose of this work is to determine Virtual Reality (VR) ecological validity as a warnings evaluation technique. We describe a methodology that uses VR as a technique to evaluate safety signs. The main advantages of VR use, associated with the interaction level, are discussed. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.