Participants are scheduled manually through our project officer.
For each session of an experiment:
1 participant in the acoustic sound booth
1 experimenter to run the session
Safe distancing of at least 1m will be observed at all times. Acoustic sound booths for participants to sit in are enclosed, and workstations are at least 1m apart.
A maximum of 6 people are allowed in the lab concurrently: 3 participants in 3 separate booths, and 3 experimenters at 3 workstations.
The lab has been cleared of all unnecessary stationery or equipment, which are kept in locked cabinets.
All surfaces, stationery, and equipment will be cleaned with disinfectant wipes before participants arrive:
Tables and chairs
Cabinet doors
Keyboard and mouse
Headphone and microphone
After each session ends, all surfaces and equipment will also be cleaned again.
Disinfectant wipes used will be disposed immediately at trash bins outside of the lab, which are cleared at least once a day.
Participants will be required to scan the SafeEntry QR at SHHK building entrance, as well as NTU-QR code at com lab 1 entrance. Their temperature will be taken at SHHK entrance as well.
Participants will sanitise their hands with hand sanitizer provided when they enter the lab.
Face masks must be worn at all times in the lab.
Disposable covers for headphones and microphones will be provided for each participant.
In view of the Covid-19 situation, we will be conducting remote consent taking during this time until official guidelines allow in-person visits for research studies. This Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will guide how we conduct remote consent taking and documentation.
Potential subjects will be contacted via email/phone call/text message and we will explain the remote consent taking procedure to them.
If potential subjects are agreeable to continue to consent taking, we will email/mail/courier the Informed Consent Form (ICF) to the potential subject, and arrange a date and time for remote consent taking via video call together with a witness.
Remote consent taking will be conducted over video call, either via Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Whatsapp, or any other application that supports video calling. The subject, the experimenter, and an impartial witness will be present. All parties are required to turn on their cameras to show their faces to ascertain:
the identity of the individual giving the appropriate consent; and
that consent was given voluntarily without any coercion or intimidation.
We will explain the study procedure to the subject, and if they decide to participate in the study, before we start the study, we will instruct them to either:
Return an e-signed copy (PDF) of the consent form via email to us,
Provide email consent by sending us an email stating that they consent to take part in the study (for those who are unable to e-sign the document), or
Sign on the hardcopy of the ICF and take photos of the pages containing their signatures and send to us via email. Instead of taking photos of the ICF, they can also display the pages containing their signatures for us to take a snapshot over the video call during remote consent taking.
We will ensure that the subject understands that they later need to mail the original signed hardcopy ICF back to us with a stamped envelope provided by us, or return it to us inperson when official guidelines allow them to come to our lab in NTU.
If the signed hardcopy ICF did not reach us within a reasonable time frame, we will remind the subject to do so. If we still could not obtain the signed hardcopy ICF within a reasonable time frame after the reminder, we will inform NTU IRB and seek advice on action to be taken.
We will document all the relevant information above in the excel file titled “Remote Consent Documentation”.