The Influences of Different Sensory Modalities and Cognitive Loads on Walking Navigation: A Preliminary Study

External cognitive burden has long been considered an important factor causing pedestrian navigation safety problems, as pedestrians in navigation inevitably acquire external information through their senses. Therefore, the influences of different types of sensory modalities and cognitive loads on walking navigation are worthy of in-depth investigation as the foundation for improving pedestrians’ safety in navigation. This study investigated users’ performance in visual, auditory, and tactile navigation under different cognitive loads by experimental simulation. Thirty-six participants were recruited for the experiment. A computer program simulating walking navigation was used, and three different cognitive task groups were set up. Participants’ reaction times and performances were recorded during the experiment, and a post-test questionnaire was administered for evaluation purposes. According to the tests, the following points are summarized. First, visual navigation performed the best in load-free conditions, which was significantly faster than auditory navigation and tactile navigation, but the difference between the latter two was not significant. There was a significant interaction between navigation types and cognitive load types. Specifically, in the condition without load, reaction time in auditory navigation was significantly slower than those in visual navigation and tactile navigation. In the condition with auditory load, reaction time in visual navigation was significantly faster than those in auditory navigation and tactile navigation. In the condition with visual load, there were no significant differences among the three navigations.