http://www.ivillagehealth.com/news/topnews/content/0,,418445_582434,00.html

Cell phone speakers in front of driver may be safer

By Keith Mulvihill

Last Updated: 2003-05-29 16:01:48 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although chatting on a cell phone while driving ups the risk of an accident, new research suggests that cell phone speakers mounted in front of drivers may help them stay better focused.

That's because it's easier for people to look and listen at the same time when all the information is coming from the same direction, UK researchers say.

Recent concerns about the safety of driving while dialing and talking into hand-held cell phones have led some U.S. states to ban their use in moving vehicles. In response, millions of cellular users have made the switch to hands-free devices.

But studies also suggest that such hands-free technology may not reduce the risk of car accidents among chatty drivers -- suggesting that a driver's attention, rather than problems with physically handling a cell phone, is the more important factor in safe driving, according to the new report, published in the journal Psychological Science.

In the study, Drs. Charles Spence and Liliana Read had eight people "drive" in a simulator that mimicked driving on suburban and city roads. While they drove, they listened to a person's voice broadcast alternately from one of two loudspeakers placed in different positions -- in front of them and off to their side.

Participants were asked to repeat the words spoken to them.

The researchers found that overall, participants were able to repeat more words correctly when they were listening to the audio and not driving -- 77 percent versus 56 percent when driving.

But when the researchers compared the two different driving conditions, they found that participants correctly repeated 85 percent of the words when the speaker was in front of them, compared with 49 percent when the speaker was placed to the side.

According to the researchers, the brain might be better able to process visual and auditory information when both come from the same direction.

"By presenting the speaker from the direction in which drivers typically look -- straight ahead -- they will find it easier to combine talking and driving," Spence, a researcher at Oxford University, told Reuters Health in an e-mail.

"This could be achieved most simply by mounting the loudspeaker on top of the dashboard in front of driver, or else by use of transparent loudspeaker mounted on the (windshield) of the car," he said.

Still, Spence pointed out that "it is best not to use a mobile phone while driving."

"However," he added, "if you are going to use one, you can combine driving with talking on the mobile phone more safely if the person you are listening to speaks from directly in front of you --where you tend to look while driving-- and not from the side."

Copyright 2002 Reuters