Noisy Signals: Understanding the Impact of Auditory Distraction on Web Search Tasks

More than half of all searches are now submitted on mobile devices, which can (and often are) used in various potentially distracting situations, such as travelling on a noisy train or when walking down a busy street. Research suggests that walking has negative effects on search performance and behaviour and that auditory distractions can impact on user input and affect perception of task duration.

In this work we conduct a user study (n=16) using a simulated distracting condition to investigate how auditory distractions change perceived and objective search performance and behaviour. Our results suggest that noisy environments induce stress on users, causing them to feel additional perceived time pressure, leading to a reduced ability to identify task-relevant documents and a compulsion to finish the search task quickly.