Monotonous work environments can cause fatigue, reduce productivity and increase errors. Jobs that rely heavily on vision, such as assembly-line work, may use specially programmed music to vary the sensory environment. Prometheus proposed adding changing light and colour as a form of “sensory exercise” that could help workers recover their concentration.
Operators monitoring automated systems face a related problem. Long periods in which nothing changes can weaken attention, even though the operator must remain ready to act. Research in engineering psychology suggested that sensory deprivation could be more dangerous than information overload. Prometheus therefore proposed using music and light music not as a distraction, but as an indicator of the system’s status.
The team began developing a light-music display in 1966 at the initiative of Sergei Korolev. During normal operation, the screen showed a harmonious sequence of colour and music. If the monitored system departed from normal conditions, the image changed to red-and-white pulses, the music became dissonant and the synchronisation of sound and light broke down. This unpleasant shift was designed to alert the operator and direct attention back to the main instruments.
The team also developed emergency-warning versions. Instead of abstract signs, these used instantly recognisable images and sounds. In a fire emergency, for example, the regular light-music sequence was replaced by the image and sound of flames. Prometheus presented the project several times at the Gagarin Readings.
Further reading: Bulat Galeev, S. A. Andreev and M. V. Sitnikov, “A Method for Indicating the State of a Human–Machine System under Sensory Deprivation”, in Materials of the Scientific and Technical Conference of Young Scientists and Specialists of Tatarstan (Kazan, 1971).
