Communication and information exchange in the operating theatre take place in a complex environment under the influence of man-machine interactions with increasing performance pressure. A multitude of information from patient records, medical devices and people present in the operating theatre must be retrieved, monitored, documented and communicated in parallel - all under stress, multitasking and difficult acoustic conditions.

METIOR addresses these challenges of complex assistive human-machine interaction, communication and extensive documentation. The METIOR vision is error-free and barrier-free speech communication between all participants and a working environment in which further relevant information (e.g. from machines and other IT/ HIS systems) is provided via user-oriented and needs-based speech assistance, as well as being able to be entered by those involved.

The University Hospital for Visceral Surgery is supports the development process of the demonstrators from a clinical perspective and is also testing parts of the system and the entire system in an iterative study in a simulation operating theatre by measuring workplace stress using standardised cognitive tests and mobile EEG measurements.