Understanding the Effect of Audio Communication Delay on Distributed Team Interaction

Abstract : Distributed teams are geographically separated and rely on networked communication technologies to mediate their interactions. A limitation of these networked communication technologies is that they generate transmission delays that result from network congestion or routing issues. Communication delays in distributed environments is an important and challenging problem that has not been adequately addressed. Communication delays are particularly insidious in air traffic control, and space and military operations, where communication and information sharing are paramount to team success. For the purposes of this research, we define communication delay as the time interval between a team member speaking a message (sender) and when another team member (recipient) hears it. The goal of this research is to better understand the effect of communication delays on team collaboration and team processes to maximize distributed team performance. This paper will explore the issue of communication delays in network-enabled environments, and describe an experiment developed to better understand the effects of communication delays on distributed team member trust, shared understanding, and satisfaction. Research questions are as follows: (1) What effect do audio communication delays have on distributed team trust, shared understanding (task accuracy), satisfaction, and cognitive workload?; and (2) What effect does a video channel have on distributed team trust, satisfaction, and team member cognitive workload, when team member communication is delayed? For the purposes of this research, we will focus on synchronous audio and video communication technologies.