Mitigating Alarm Fatigue in Ship Bridge Operations: The Role of Speech Alarm in Enhancing Navigational Safety

Moustafa Mohmed Ahmed Hosny

DOI NO. https://doi.org/10.59660/51117 Received 02/08/2025, Revised 04/09/2025, Acceptance 06/10/2025, Available online and Published 01/01/2026

Abstract

Alarm-fatigue issues become a safety concern on modern ship bridges. Continuous alarms whose connotation is not properly described are just enough to distract navigation officers from their navigational tasks. These warnings, when delayed or neglected, track the risk of compromising safety. Hence the mental exhaustion. This paper studies one such feasible alternative: speech alarms giving clear and natural language messages in the way Google Maps instructs drivers. During the simulation scenario, 12 licensed navigation officers were divided into two groups performing simulator tests. One group undertook tests when being given regular beep alarms, while another group heard speech alarms with pertinent instructions and context from instructor. Mental workload, reaction times, and correct responses to alarms were measured through the NASA-TLX questionnaire. The research ended with some definite findings: speech alarms were more often predictable by navigation officers (22% vs. 7.1%), they reacted faster (4.2 seconds versus 6.9). There also appeared to be a negative correlation between frustration and performance: the lower stress, the higher performance (r = -0.979, p < 0.01). Several participants stated that the speech alarms were easier to comprehend, and reduce mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand and effort. This research results show that speech alarms suffer a huge potential in alleviating alarm fatigue and in the enhancement of navigation safety at sea. Integration of such an approach into maritime industry should be considered for future amendments into the IMO alarm standards.