TY - GEN
T1 - The Role of Auditory Environments and Anxiety in Detecting Phishing Emails
AU - Anaraky, Reza Ghaiumy
AU - Cartwright, Mark
AU - Nov, Oded
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).
PY - 2025/4/26
Y1 - 2025/4/26
N2 - This work explores the effects of auditory environments and anxiety on users’ ability to identify phishing emails. In an experimental in-person study, sixty participants evaluated twelve different phishing and legitimate emails while immersed in four different auditory environments (silence, lecture, ambient street noise, concert), at low or high playback (i.e., volume) levels. Using a path model, we found that (1) all non-silent auditory environments induced some level of anxiety, reducing participants’ ability to correctly identify phishing emails, and (2) low (vs. high) playback level of ambient noise led to lower levels of anxiety and, in turn, higher accuracy in identifying phishing emails. These findings highlight the importance of auditory environments in managing anxiety for improving phishing detection capabilities. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this work.
AB - This work explores the effects of auditory environments and anxiety on users’ ability to identify phishing emails. In an experimental in-person study, sixty participants evaluated twelve different phishing and legitimate emails while immersed in four different auditory environments (silence, lecture, ambient street noise, concert), at low or high playback (i.e., volume) levels. Using a path model, we found that (1) all non-silent auditory environments induced some level of anxiety, reducing participants’ ability to correctly identify phishing emails, and (2) low (vs. high) playback level of ambient noise led to lower levels of anxiety and, in turn, higher accuracy in identifying phishing emails. These findings highlight the importance of auditory environments in managing anxiety for improving phishing detection capabilities. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this work.
KW - anxiety
KW - auditory environment
KW - decision-making
KW - environmental noise
KW - Phishing detection
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105005761555&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=105005761555&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/3706599.3720272
DO - 10.1145/3706599.3720272
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:105005761555
T3 - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
BT - CHI EA 2025 - Extended Abstracts of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
PB - Association for Computing Machinery
T2 - 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2025
Y2 - 26 April 2025 through 1 May 2025
ER -