System Measures Stress In Emergency Callers' Voice 238
cylonlover writes "Chances are that if you're calling 9-1-1 (or 9-9-9, or whatever it is where you are), you're not likely to tell the operator that your case isn't all that urgent, and that it can wait. The problem is, sometimes emergency dispatch centers are so overloaded with callers – all of them stating that they need assistance right now – that some sort of system is required in order to determine who should get help first. Dutch researchers claim to have developed just such a system, which analyzes callers' voices to determine how stressed-out they are."
Calibration? (Score:3, Insightful)
How well does this thing work with child callers, or those with developmental disabilities who do not respond 'normally' to emergency situations?
Overt Reactions (Score:5, Insightful)
I had a girlfriend who's mom would freak out at the most silly things, and not so silly too, accentuating her voice to make this overtly apparent.
Should have seen her when I accidentally ran over her cat. Very unfortunate, and people react very different in panicked, or life threatening, situations.
I wonder how well this detection will hold up, 4% margin of error seems quite low.
Nice, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
Stress != Urgency (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Calibration? (Score:5, Insightful)
Or those who have been in "these" situations before and now how to go about the call calmly.
Re:Overt Reactions (Score:3, Insightful)
I had a girlfriend who's mom would freak out at the most silly things, and not so silly too, accentuating her voice to make this overtly apparent.
You modded him Troll? wtf???
Mod him up, I was going to post the same thing.
There are people that are just HORRIBLY unable to maintain
themselves at the least bit of stress.
I remember running to shrill blood curdling screams to find
out the person screaming was upset at something very trivial.
Like literally spilled (milk) liquid.
I've broken up with someone because their reaction level
to minor issues was off the chart and I figured in a LTR
I would be at a major disadvantage if I was any further
than driving distance from home.
So... good luck with that.
-AI
Re:Calibration? (Score:5, Insightful)
Cool technology, totally misapplied.
Re:Calibration? (Score:5, Insightful)
The Freaked-Out Future of Humanity (Score:5, Insightful)
Natural selection will provide some interesting long-term consequences.
"rationing" healthcare (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm getting tired of this trope, especially as it's used as keyword to get immediate panic reflex.
The fact is, in any given society, resources for healthcare will be limited, and generally smaller than what is perceived as necessary by the public.
This will automatically cause a need for prioritizing, as some medical threats are more immediate than others, and should be treated first.
These researchers have been looking into a way for making that more effective. However, it has not been implemented! So 'the Dutch' aren't doing anything here.
Given that waiting lists have been exceedingly long in NL for quite some time now, not due to lack of funding per se, but lack of trained personnel, it's also more than a little irrelevant.
Lastly, I'm just going to assume you live in the U.S.A here, since you're using the rationing healthcare rhetoric. May I remind you that this is done on a large scale in your country already? Only in your case, it isn't rationed based on need, as any decent person would want, but based on how much money you have. Yes you can, in a few select places in the U.S.A, get the best possible healthcare, but only if you have the enormous amounts of money that's asked for it. Normal people have to do with less healthcare than any given Dutch person gets, for much more. Rationing is not so much our problem, as yours.
Re:Calibration? (Score:4, Insightful)
"This sounds like the Dutch are "rationing" their healthcare."
Yep, first the heart attacks and aneurysms, then the teens who started fireworks from their ass.
Re:Calibration? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'll risk a Redundant by tagging off of your great comment.
Wouldn't this penalize ALL military/ex personnel? "Hello - yes - this is Daniel Johnson of 16380 Main St and we have a situation. My son ripped his whole leg open on some metal debris out in public land that was apparently dumped in violation. Please send a blood trauma crew."
vs.
"Oh my gawd my kid got a nail in his leg after some goddamn moron left a bunch of crap out in the field. Do you think he'll die from tetnus????"
Re:"rationing" healthcare (Score:3, Insightful)
Oops I replied to the wrong comment, here you go:
No he's just demonstrating that in less that 2 sentences he can flip your logic around. We could write out a sad story about a person who died because she couldn't get a lifesaving treatment in time because the monthly budget was allocated to unnecessary screening.
For example, organ transplants have to go to someone. For every one person they do save, X number of people who could have used it die. It's a sad situation all around. So they essentially developed a system for determining which body will allow the organ to live the longest (at least in Canada). In the US, your wealth probably plays in a lot more (i.e. can you afford the surgery?)
I don't understand. You argument uses an example of a person who died because she didn't get adequate care, and then you use that argument to defend a position where a great number of people get inadequate care. ???? I call Poe's Law.