Research Interests

I am generally interested in conducting empirical research that leads to a better understanding of perceptual and cognitive processes with the aims of using this information to optimize the interaction between humans and machines. I have two tracks of research: psychoacoustics research to improve efficacy of auditory displays, and user-centered design projects to develop more usable interfaces.

Education

I am currently pursuing my doctorate degree in Engineering Psychology at Georgia Tech, in Dr. Bruce Walker's Sonification Lab.

Masters of Science, Engineering Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 2006.

Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, Denison University, Granville, OH, 2003.

Curriculum Vitae

Click here to download my CV

Current Professional Activities

My current research focuses on the use of bone-conduction headsets.

I have recently passed my preliminary examinations, and am planning my dissertation studies. These studies will consider ways of adapting spatial audio for bone-conduction.

In addition, I am currently doing research that directly investigates imaging of sound waves traveling through the head, and how that can be used to predict speech intelligibility of signals travelling through bone-conduction transducers.

Finally, I am taking Human-Computer Interaction, where I am working in an interdisciplinary team on developing an interface to help people reduce energy consumption in their home.

Publications (Journal Article, Proceedings, and Thesis)

Walker, B. N., Stanley, R. M., Przekwas, A., Tan, X. G., Chen, Z. J., Yang, H. W., Wilkerson, P., Harrand, V., Chancey, C., & Houtsma, A. J. M. (2007). High fidelity modeling and experimental evaluation of binaural bone conduction communication devices. Proceedings of the 19th International Congress on Acoustics (ICA 2007), 2-7 September 2007, Madrid Spain. [PDF]

Stanley, R.M. (2006). Toward Adapting Spatial Audio Displays For Use With Bone Conduction: The Cancellation of Bone-conducted and Air-conducted Sound Waves. Master's thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. [PDF]

Stanley, R.M., & Walker, B.N. (2006). Lateralization of sounds using bone-conduction headsets. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES2006), San Francisco, CA (16-20 October) pp. 1571-1575. [PDF]

Eriksdottir, E., Lindsay, J., Nees, M., & Stanley, R.M. (2006). User preferences for auditory device-driven menu navigation. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES2006), San Francisco, CA (16-20 October) pp. 2076 -2078. [PDF]

Walker, B. N., & Stanley, R. M. (2005). Thresholds of audibility for bone-conduction headsets. Proceedings of the International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD2005), Limerick, Ireland (6-10 July) pp 218-222. [PDF]

Walker, B. N., Stanley, R. M., Iyer, N., Simpson, B. D., & Brungart, D. S. (2005). Evaluation of bone-conduction headsets for use in multitalker communication environments. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES2005), Orlando, FL (26-30 September) pp. 1615-1619. [PDF]

Walker, B. N., Stanley, R. M., & Lindsay, J. (2005). Task, user characteristics, and environment interact to affect mobile audio design. Proceedings of the International Workshop on Auditory Displays for Mobile Context-Aware Systems at Pervasive2005, Munich, Germany (11 May). [PDF]

Walker, B. N., & Stanley, R.M. (2004). Eye movement and reaction time are both important in assessment of dialog box usability. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES2004), New Orleans, LA (20-24 September) pp 798-802. [PDF]

Stanley, R.M., & Matthews, N. (2004). A comparison of cues for auditory motion judgments. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Abstracts, p114, C131. [Poster]

Stanley, R.M. & Matthews, N. (2003). Invalid Cues Impair Auditory Motion sensitivity, Perception, 32(6), 731-740. Abstract PubMed - MEDLINE Index # 12892433

User-Centered Design Experience

FAA Airport Design Competition: Runway Safety/Incursion Challenge (Spring 2007)

• Served as human factors specialist on interdisciplinary team designing interfaces to help reduce runway incursions

• Won second place in the competition

Music Navigation Interface (Spring 2007)

• Acted as human factors specialist on group project to create an interface for managing the categorization and playback of large digital collections of music

Sound Design for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Summer 2004)

• Designed sounds to communicate status of engine, threats, and weapons in multiple unmanned aerial vehicles traversing through virtual 3D auditory space

Web Usability Analysis (Spring 2004)

• Provided heuristic evaluation of a website for older adults with a team of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Student Chapter members

My personal interests include music listening, woodworking, dogs, photography, electronics/gadgets, spending time outdoors, jogging, cars (full size and remote control), mountain biking & cycling, and travel.