The Sound of Safety? 271
Nostrada writes: "Gone are the days of mobile phones ringing with the latest and greatest melodies? Following this article, "A new sound that could revolutionise mobile telephones and safety alarms because it is less intrusive yet easy to pinpoint is being ordered worldwide after being developed by a British scientist." Anyone got some URLs for samples?"
You kidding me? (Score:1)
Even if it is true, what happens when everyone in a crowded area has a cellphone with this ring? I mean, if you're as compelled to look in the direction of the sound as this article makes it seem, you'll get whiplash from your head bouncing around to look at different phones going off.
If it's too widely used, I don't see how we aren't just going to filter this effect out subconsciously, even if it's all that the article cracks it up to be.
psychologic of sound/acoustics (Score:1)
The 'cshuush' shound would be better in this regard for alarms because you can tell exactly which direction its coming from, due to the fact that is has a broader spectrum.
The end of the world is coming (Score:1)
In the old days, people used to earn a living doing things like building cars, or making clothes, or growing and harvesting food -- i.e., they would be creating physical objects or performing useful services and selling them to people.
But the problem was that you could only make a limited amount of money doing that. After all, a person's time and energy are limited: each individual can only make a few clothes, build a few cars, or harvest a small amount of food. Sure, you can make a decent living doing those things, but you can never get really filthy rich.
So people came up with a better way of getting filthy rich. Instead of selling a few tangible things to a small number of people, they would generate something intangible (which can be mass-produced with little or no effort), and sell that to millions of people. Sure, maybe it's too small to generate a large profit for each unit, but since you can easily sell millions of the little thingys with no expenditure of energy on your part, you can get rich pretty quickly.
So what are the consequences of this:
And what's happened to the old-fashioned practice of actually making physical objects and selling them to people? We no longer do this anymore, at least not in industrialized countries. Our clothes are made in third-world sweat shops. The manufacture of automobiles is also gradually migrating to third-world countries (part by part, so nobody really notices). We used to have family farms, but these are now run by big corporations who import migrant labor when the time comes to actually harvest the crops.
So this is the 21st century. In industrialized countries, we are completely dependent on third world labor to provide us with the necessities of life, while we scheme to get rich marketing intangible ideas, hoping each will be "the next big thing". How long can this situation last? If the third world stays poor, how long will it be before they become resentful of providing everything for us while we play around making ring tones?
Worse -- if the third world develops, won't they eventually get sick of making Nikes and start also trying to get rich selling ring tones? If so, then this is the future: the entire world, naked, stranded, and starving, all hopelessly trying to survive marketing ring tones to one another.
Re:Pink Noise. (Score:1)
Re:chusssh-chusssh-chusssh, huh? (Score:1)
Obviously this ring won't make deaf people turn towards the cell phone, but it's gotta work better than "chusssh-chusssh-chusssh".
People have used this idea for aeons (Score:1)
A psychologist pointed out to me a few years ago that an excellent way to get attention is to make a tsa tsa tsa sound (think Skippy the Bush Kangaroo). She said she has noticed mothers doing this unconsciously when they wanted to distract children. It also appears in different cultures.
Also consider the shhh sound we make to signal "be quiet". It is also a "natural" thing people have discovered. It is effective at getting atention, and in my experience is not that annoying (compare with typical mobile phone tones). Certainly if librarians bleeted "HONK HONK" to signal "quiet" we'd find it a tad distracting!
So if people have discovered that white noise like sounds are good attention grabbers what does this say about prior art?
Re:Harley-Davidson... (Score:1)
Here's the URL to the company (Score:1)
http://www.soundalert.co.uk/
commies! (Score:1)
All I can say is that for the sake of every red-blooded 'mercan out there I hope they get this thing patented, copyrighted, and restricted post-haste! The last thing we need is for some lifesaving advance to be available free to the public, that's bloody communism!
Uh oh. (Score:2)
This sound will also be heard before TV commercials, radio commercials, it will replace the windows startup sound, and children will learn to make it when they want something or want to annoy you. Not a nice thing to grace the earth with.
Re:Pink Noise. (Score:2)
White noise has the same power density from 100-200 HZ as it does from 1100-1200 HZ or any other 100 HZ segment.
Pink noise has the same power density from 100-200 Hz as it does from 1000-2000Hz or any other 2:1 octave ratio.
Sound Files (Score:2)
has anyone figured out how to reproduce this sound? i'm sure that if it's just white noise then any PC could be coaxed into mixing this sound with a more pleasing sound (instead of Localizer+Siren) to get your attention for things like chat messages and alerts (would be great in a NOC environment)
British invention? (Score:1)
"I believe it's not only a world-beating British invention, but it is going to save thousands of lives every year."
Okay this is a cool idea and I can dig it, I too am sick of hearing little electronic versions of Fur Elise everywhere I go. But why in the HELL should I care if it was invented in Britan?Re:These sirens are supposed to be good (Score:1)
That might have been 6 mos ago... I can't remember now that I think about it.
These sirens are supposed to be good (Score:3)
Ironicaly, for safety reasons introduction in to Canada (and the US???) will be delayed as there are strict guidelines and tests to meet for new sirens.
That's safe? (Score:2)
Re:That's safe? (Score:2)
I mean, she's suggesting that this will get people to look at security cameras. If it does that, it'll probably force people to look at the vehicle. It's probably pretty unlikely that people really just automatically turn and stare like she suggests, but if it did work that way, it wouldn't be good for a lot of situations.
Re:White Noise (Score:1)
Re:It's all in the shape of your ears (Score:1)
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My God, it's full of source!
Re:Ya Ok (Score:2)
The show was first run months ago, but it was just re-run lately. Same sound? Can't tell.
Re:Baby's Cry (Score:2)
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Re:These sirens are supposed to be good (Score:2)
I wonder what that says about US drivers in general? Maybe a lack of desire to survive?
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Re:Karma whores needed (Score:2)
Re:"They told us, all they wanted, was a sound..." (Score:2)
Re:Television interference (Score:2)
I just tried the PremierHazard link from post #79. What this sounds like is a siren run through an amp that's intermittent at about a 3 or 4 Hz rate. Think of a siren interspersed with the "microphone keying" burst of static which television has trained us to associate with police 2-way radios. It's very annoying, but doesn't seem any more directional than the siren itself. The directional cues probably come as much from the interruption of the siren by the noise (and then the noise by the siren) as from the noise itself.
Re:TLC Had a Feature on This... (Score:2)
Yeah, well that and the fact that in the unlikely event that any of the sound of the siren got through their rolled up windows, blasting stereos, and roaring air conditioners, they couldn't be bothered to turn down the radio, roll down the window, start slowing down just in case, and look around, including checking their rear-view mirrors.
Re:Pink Noise versus White Noise (Score:3)
Re:Sound sample & interview online (Score:1)
Re:chusssh-chusssh-chusssh, huh? (Score:1)
Sound Alert sample URL (Score:2)
http://www.premierhazard.co.uk/siren.html
Use Both (Score:1)
-Waldo
Correction (Score:1)
-Waldo
More Information Regarding The Sound (Score:5)
A sidenote. I read something about a year ago, but I just can't recall where. (I'll keep Googling, but I think I read it in Scientific American or something.) A fire department tested out one of these new sirens, and they worked splendidly in all the important ways...but one. Traffic could easily determine where the fire engine was coming from, the siren was easily heard, and that was all nice. The problem was that firemen have learned to associate the sound of the engine with excitement. So they arrived at fires unprepared, psychologically, and without the gusto to fight the fire. Weird, huh?
-Waldo
Re:Baby's Cry (Score:4)
(And I thought my Nokia singing "Oops, I did it again" every time I get a call was bad enough...)
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car alarms (Score:2)
then everyone will ignore it.
Getting enough Chussh? (Score:2)
Recognize and interpret within milliseconds...
I don't know about the rest of you but "chusssh-chusssh-chusssh" is not a sound I hear often in my daily life.
I know what you are thinking, I must not be getting enough "chusssh" in my life.
Well I am getting enough "chusssh" and when I have "chusssh" it does not sound like "chusssh".
(It sounds much more like pr0n...)
Re:Baby's Cry (Score:5)
They have already developed a similar (though somewhat less violent) thing... it's called vibrate mode. I leave my phone on vibrate, and it has the double benefit that:
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Re:Won't be long (Score:2)
Of course, that's the obvious comment (no offense). But consider: What if you're wrong? Imagine being in Times Square a few years from now, watching the crowd look around like lemmings... *chussh chussh* everyone looks at the Pepsi add *chussh chussh* everyone looks at the CBS add *chussh chussh* everyone looks at the ticker *chussh chussh* everyone looks at the Pepsi add. Repeat as desired.
A scene that fits right into the Matrix.
Anyhow, the humorous image merely underscores my point: While it's virtually doomed to failure in the way you describe, it would be even worse if it actually worked. This thing is violation of Jerf's Law: Never try to do something where the worst case scenario is success.
SBD? LBH? (Score:5)
Cellphones that fart. That's just great.
Re:chusssh-chusssh-chusssh, huh? (Score:2)
So, I'd say the risk with this kind of sound might well be that people will disregard the old kind of alarms even more when we've all gotten used to this new sound.
Re:Uh oh. (Score:2)
Sound sample & interview online (Score:2)
When they say "impossible to ignore", they're not saying your head instantly turns to it - they're saying that in a smoky room, you can pretty well tell where it's coming from without having to think or concentrate on it. Believe me, my head didn't instantly gravitate toward my laptop speakers when the sound came on.
URL of stream (Score:5)
http://mfile.akamai.com/2611/rm/twimedia.download
It plays at ~100kbit for me.
It's all in the shape of your ears (Score:2)
That's part of why music through headphones doesn't sound like it's coming from somewhere (nothing reflects off your ears). Throw in tone purity (purer tones being directionless), and you'll see the problem. Some songbirds you really have to look for when they sing. Crows, on the other hand, with their non-pure calls, you know where they are right away.
Re:It's all in the shape of your ears (Score:2)
2. They do sound better than stereo -- through headphones.
3. I think I'd have to record binaural with castings of my ears to make it sound the way my ears would hear it. Since everyone's ears are different.... Maybe someone can come up with a realtime filter that modifies the sound according to how each listener's ears would hear it.
Re:What about vibrate? (Score:2)
However, I'm worried about misuse of this noise. If I'm on an oil-rig and hear some static kind of noise like this, turn to look at the mobile, think "oh, wasn't the mobile, must be an emergency then" then I've lost a few precious seconds.
IOW, don't use it for *everything*. Work on expanding your braincell to cope with different noises for different things. (How many folks here have per-caller ringtones, but never actually *use* them preferring the visual instead??)
~Tim
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Re:Baby's Cry (Score:2)
Not only the sort of cry it's using. When I was a baby for some reason or another I developed a strong liking for droning--that is, humming a single note for a prolonged period. She could tell where I was and what I was doing my the tone of the note. If the tone changed to `curious,' she knew she might need to go make sure that I wasn't getting into something I shouldn't (like Draino); if it stopped altogether, she knew I was either in trouble or asleep. Fortunately, for a baby `trouble' as often as not means `having to use brain,' as in figuring out how to climb stairs.
Incidentally, as I wrote this I was droning to a rockabilly tune and than Also Sprach Zarathustra. You see, it's a habit I've yet to break...
Re:What about vibrate? (Score:2)
"Hoot chsssh, Hoot Chsssh"
If you look at the streaming video, the had a standard fire alarm going off, with the EXIT marked with the "chsssh" You follow the "chsssh"
Company website (Score:4)
http://www.soundalert.co.uk/research.htm [soundalert.co.uk]
I still can't find actual audio files, though.
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Re:Company website (Score:5)
http://www.now.com/feature.now?javascript=dhtml&fi d=1922344&cid=1023695 [now.com]
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Karma whores needed (Score:2)
(from a user sick of his current AOL IM sounds)
Re:The closest approximation I can come up with... (Score:2)
Just yesterday we had a pretty humid day, and they came out in full force - I am up in an office on the fourth floor - and they were still loud!
If this is the sound it makes - aggggh!!!
Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
Great... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
old news (Score:2)
Won't be long (Score:3)
There was a time when a car alarm going off caused everyone to turn and look, but now they're so commonplace that nobody turns to look at a car when the alarm is going off. If this new noise is going to be used in phones and alarms everywhere, it shouldn't be long before people become desensitized to it as well.
Re:chusssh-chusssh-chusssh, huh? (Score:2)
Some time ago, I figured that I didn't need to use bookmarks since I could just commit the page number to memory. And it worked fine (I'm not particularly amnesic...) But after a while, I found it harder and harder to return to my place. Not because I could not remember the page number, but because I remembered ALL OF THEM, and didn't know which was the correct one. In other words, I had exhausted the usefullness of this memory exercise.
I also have to question the conclusion of those "researchers" that decided that your car was safer with the headlights always on. I believe that they based their conclusion on some studies that suggested a connection between cars with headlights on and lower accident rates. AN APPARENT CONNECTION PROVES NOTHING! I have to wonder if the lower accident rate was due to the fact that it was unusual for cars to have their headlights on (during the day), and that other drivers were just paying more attention to THOSE cars...
For all we know, if all cars had their headlights on, the accident rate might return to the same place it was beforehand.
Anyway, I agree with you that certain stimuli may lose their advantage when they are commonly encountered.
Re:How long before we tune this one out? (Score:2)
Frogive me, but I can't imagine gridlock in New York with everyone chusssh-chussshing each other.
LS
Mostly hype? (Score:4)
Come on Slashdot, isn't there a more interesting technology out there being developed? Like bionics or new genetic engineering or some new materials science???
LS
Re:chusssh-chusssh-chusssh, huh? (Score:2)
Every signal can be broken into frequency components, and each component has an amplitude *and* phase (often this is expressed by adding negative and positive frequency components). The importance of these phases cannot be overemphasized. If you "coherently" add components with the same phase, you will get a delta function: a single large crack. If you add them with random phases, you end up with white noise.
It is quite possible that the sound they are talking about is more like a series of short, broadband "chirps" than white noise.
I don't know enough of the physiology of hearing to know what makes things easy or difficult to locate, but I expect the incoherent nature of white noise makes localization more diffcult, not less. A chirp on the other hand, has a very steep rise that makes time-of-arrival measurements relatively easy, and improves localizability.
What, psychologically compells one to look at the source I don't know, but I have serious doubts that it will be effective in the long term. Human brains have a remarkable ability to get used to things and start ignoring them. Only while this sound is new and rare will it excite such reactions.
I dont hear sirens in advertising... (Score:2)
It
Incidentally, every time I hear a siren, I tend to turn and look (even if the sound isn't as easily locatable). But I dont hear that siren sound in advertising all the time. So I'm not as fearful as others here in terms of advertisers monopolizing this sound, as the claim that you HAVE to turn towards it is probably exaggurated a little. In conjunction with noise pollution laws, I doubt you'll see a proliferation of this sound in advertising. I'd imagine emergency alarms and cellphones might make a little more use of it.
Re:More Information Regarding The Sound (Score:5)
Yeah, I hate it when my prey gets noisy and decides to eat me.
Oh man. I'm sorry; that quote made me chuckle.
Cell Phones and Embarrassment (Score:2)
Marketing a sound? (Score:2)
Only sounds I could think of that might be marketed like this are regular fire alarms or copyrighted/trademarked theme songs, which wouldn't be marketed if the sound is meant to illicit brand recognition.
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Re:Marketing a sound? (Score:2)
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Chusssh Chusssh Chusssh (Score:5)
Gawd, can't wait until I can't resist turning to the prick sitting two seats down in a final exam who can't turn the ringer off.
On the plus side, I now know how to get my /. postings read by everyone: include "chusssh chusssh chusssh" in each message, then all /.ers will be irresistably drawn to my post!
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Cool and very scary (Score:2)
This is not the first time that sound has appeared. You see, horror movie directors have hit upon it time and again.. trying to reproduce the sound that signals a fight or flight response like when you hear something (a bear, a murderer, a grue, whatever) sneaking up behind you.
Maybe ten years ago or so we used to play with making the sound from one horror movie, which sounds like "Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah", as if you just said the Ch and the Ah into a circuit which generates reverberating echoes.
It also sounds a lot like the sound of the daleks in Doctor Who which scared the shit out of me.. guess I'm susceptible to that kind of sound.
But listening to the audio, it seems that they are going way overboard on their application of the sound. I think it is going to give some people heart attacks and make genuinely frantic, not simply provide directional cues but actually get people into a nervous, crowd stampede state of mind, as if one was running through a nightmare.
Also, you usually run *away* from such sounds, not towards them. It is going to be a lot more effective if they can just add a small crackling component to ordinary rings and buzzes if necessary and forgoe a full sonic rendition of your worst childhood nightmare.
Finally, user selection of ring tones, to the point of symphonic midi rendition of popular songs, is already big business in Japan. You can even compose your own with a system my friend made called theta, at mobile.yamaha.com. Only unimaginative people will find themselves picking up their phone at the wrong time, most people have something interesting and people around them laugh and appreciate neat, beautiful music instead of irritating rings. That "whose phone is it" thing may be true but it is also a canard, based on low tech in the U.S. and Europe in this regard.
I think people are going to have to be very careful implementing this because it can be dangerous, in the same way that Japan Rail now has to tell people over and over again to not use their phones on the train because they interfere with pacemakers. You might get more hypertension and people with nervous conditions if such nerve- wracking sounds become prevalent. Once you open Pandora's box.. it could be like being submerged in an Indiana Jones style nightmare of endless slithering insectoid things.
Url typo (Score:2)
Poltergeist? (Score:2)
Baby's Cry (Score:5)
Ads (Score:5)
Oh c'mon, if this works as well as he says, you know the main application will be advertising. Beer cans will be chusshh-chuusshh-chusshing from the aisles before a bank robber is ever caught looking at a chussh-chuush-chuushing security camera.
Re:Won't be long (Score:2)
If he's wrong, and "hearers of the new noise are virtually unable to resist turning to face the direction from which it is coming" and they intend to use this sound in cellular phones, then I can imagine what would happen if somebody drove with a cellular on the side seat. Fortunatelly (or not), from what I heard from the video here [now.com] (this link was posted by another
It's just a different sound. Any strange sound calls your attention. If you're in a glass shop, and hear tires squealing, would you resist to face the direction from which it is coming? Me thinks not.
Turning away birds... (Score:2)
Anyway, just wanted to say that it seems like another wheel reinvented.
Big improvement (Score:3)
"Because hearers of the new noise are virtually unable to resist turning to face the direction from which it is coming..."
and"The new sound could also rid everyday life of one of its embarrassing moments, when everyone in a room searches for their mobile phone when just one rings.
That's right, now instead of everyone ruffling through their clothes checking their phone they will ALL look at YOU. No, not embarrasing at all...Re:URL of stream (Score:2)
http://twimedia.download.akamai.com/2611/2001/06/
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Re:Baby's Cry (Score:2)
I don't know which is funnier, the fact that they feel so similar, or the fact that he electrocuted himself regularly enough that the first thing he thought of when his pager went off was electrocution.
embarrassing? (Score:5)
The new sound could also rid everyday life of one of its embarrassing moments, when everyone in a room searches for their mobile phone when just one rings.
And at a new embarrassing moment, when the entire room is unable to resist turning to face your crotch.
Re: Benefits of vibrating phones (Score:5)
i know some better sounds that can get attention (Score:2)
Re:chusssh-chusssh-chusssh, huh? (Score:2)
There is a link to an interview with a video clip lower on the page.
Nice clip, educational.
Chussssh chussssh chussssh is not really the sound. It is just pulses of white noise. Definitely less harsh than a simple buzzer. Niceties include varying the pulse speed depending on how close you are to the exit, etc.
Pulses of white noise have a better chance of being directional and cutting through the other background noise in an emergency.
They are really just navigational aids for humans. I do not think sirens are going to go any place for a while
How long before we tune this one out? (Score:5)
Re:chusssh-chusssh-chusssh, huh? (Score:5)
Have you ever deer hunted or do you go on walks in the country? Often a sharp quick whistle is all it takes to stop varmin dead in their tracks.
Although this doesn't always work for deer, it has occasionally worked for deer. It almost always stops rabbits, squirrels, and birds.
What you do is let out a sharp whistle as soon as the said varment is spooked, as it is running away. You'd be amazed how often the creature stops in its tracks and turns to look at you. Of course it might start running again after it notices you, but try it.
The article makes it sound like the chussh-chussh-chussh does something similar to humans. I think this might endanger more lives than it would save.
A new dilemma in movie theaters (Score:2)
Now what are people going to do to tell people their phone is being noisy?
Re:Pink Noise. (Score:2)
Pink Noise. (Score:3)
Re:Pink Noise. (Score:3)
Upgraded Cinema Idiots (Score:2)
The science behind the sounds (Score:2)
Anyways, here's an explanation [stanford.edu] of how their new sound works.
Re:Pink Noise versus White Noise (Score:2)
The Sound of "chusssh chusssh chusssh" (Score:2)
Re:chusssh-chusssh-chusssh, huh? (Score:2)
I'm a bit confused about this.
My phone rings chussssh chussssh chussssh
Someone's car backs up chussssh chussssh chussssh
A fire engine goes past chussssh chussssh chussssh
An elevator is available chussssh chussssh chussssh
Some idiot with a chussssh chussssh chussssh-sound maker goes chussssh chussssh chussssh
How long before I become acclimatized to chussssh chussssh chussssh?
Eep. (Score:3)
Anyone got some URLs for samples? (Score:4)
"Anyone hearing the broad-band sound should immediately know the precise location of its source"
Yeah, the URL is right over here.
No, wait, here.
Oh, hell...I don't know.
Hmmm...I guess it doesn't work so well at providing its location as they think :-)
just look at the patent (Score:2)
But wait, there's more... (Score:2)
Re:Imagine an office full of these phones- Danger! (Score:2)
Sounds Like a Snake (Score:2)
Re:These sirens are supposed to be good (Score:2)
Oh yes - every time. Oops - here comes an ambulance... Better mount the kerb without looking - SQUIK!
Seriously... All emergency vehicles used to use the old 2-tone air horns in the UK. Determining direction was easy - air horns produce a number of harmonics.
Then they changed to electronic sounders so
a) I have to look around for about 30 seconds (SQUIK) to work out where the noise is coming from;
b) It sounds like a bloody car alarm so half the road users don't notice until all they can see is AMBULANCE in their rear mirror.
Technology is great. Replace something that works with something complex and then need more complexity to make it work half as well as the thing you first replaced.
Seen in action (Score:3)
Anyway, a UK TV programme showed footage of this "new sound" in action. They stuck a speaker on a security camera and got people to walk past it without knowing the location of the CCTV or anything about the test. Every time a PIR detected a person walking by it played the sound and everyone instinctively looked in the general direction of the camera, catching a good image of their face. They then tested people who were aware of the system and told them not to look up no matter what - and still the same knee-jerk response to the sound.
They then got some people to watch a horror/action film and do the same walk to try to emulate the sense of apprehension that store thieves may be feeling while stealing. Response to the sound was even greater and a better image was captured.
Finally they put the same set-up "in situ" in a shop and got a policeman who specialised in catching shoplifters and the techniques they use to avoid being caught. He had no idea about the speaker, and successfully avoided getting a good face image from any conventional cameras, but *still* got caught out by the new camera.
It all comes down primitive parts of the human brain interpreting the sound as a threat, making them turn to face the danger. This is similar to being in a wood at night and hearing a twig snap.
Oh, and a lot of ambulances around where I live use the broadband sound to allow you to pinpoint where they are - it really works
Re:Ya Ok (Score:2)