AIRLINE pilots and air traffic controllers who are too tired to work safely could soon be identified automatically, thanks to a Japanese monitoring system that analyses voice patterns for signs of fatigue.
“Our system is able to detect tiredness in test subjects 10 to 20 minutes before the subjects themselves notice it,” says Kakuichi Shiomi, chief researcher at the Electronic Navigation Research Institute near Tokyo, which developed the system.
Human error currently accounts for around 80 per cent of all air accidents worldwide. “Crew fatigue is a very real problem, especially on long-haul flights crossing many time zones,” says Shiomi.…
