A study from Ford recently revealed just how bad it is for any driver to be wearing headphones or earbuds while driving.
A European study conducted by the automaker found that wearing headphones while driving destroys one’s spatial awareness, which could prove to be very hazardous while driving on the road.
The study uses an app that plays “8D” spatial audio. This creates realism through precisely controlled panning and equalization. The *D audio is used together with a virtual-reality street to create sound cues that
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A study from Ford recently revealed just how bad it is for any driver to be wearing headphones or earbuds while driving.
A European study conducted by the automaker found that wearing headphones while driving destroys one’s spatial awareness, which could prove to be very hazardous while driving on the road.
The study uses an app that plays “8D” spatial audio. This creates realism through precisely controlled panning and equalization. The *D audio is used together with a virtual-reality street to create sound cues that study participants need to identify.
The cues were played for people with headphones and for those without. This revealed that those listening to music on their headphones were on average 4.2 seconds slower to identify cues compared to those without headphones. This few seconds delay is extremely crucial when one is on the road and could spell the difference between crashing into crossing pedestrians and avoiding them.
This is why many cities have banned the use of headphones for all drivers.
For more information, you may view the original story from Cnet.
