Hi Pierre, It was never published. I have the notes no make a qute decent artcle, but no longer have a sound related blog to publish it. If you have a public space to put it up I can make it an article that might inspire students to do some cool research. Andy
On Mon, Feb 08, 2021 at 09:13:26AM +0000, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay wrote: > Andy I would very much like to have something like this read by my students. > Is there a place where I can point at it? > > > On 7 Feb 2021, at 17:58, Andy Farnell <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > On Sun, Feb 07, 2021 at 12:36:26PM +0100, Leonardo Gabrielli wrote: > > > >> indeed it is related to localizing an emergency > >> siren in a car. > > > > Fascinating. About 10 years ago I gave a lecture at the AES at Dolby > > Labs in London in this topic, It was titled "Iatrogenic Sound - why > > sirens are killing people". > > > > Long story short - the classic 'New York Wailer' that has infested cities > > around the world is the leading exemplar of bad sound design, based on bad > > science, bad policy, bad laws and corrupt industrial relations. > > > > Apart from being seemingly impossible for humans to localise > > from within a vehicle they provoke the greatest stress and confusion. > > Emergency vehicle drivers hate it. Pedestrians hate it. Residents hate it. > > The sound was never "designed" so much as being a historical default > > inherited from the cultural signature of mechanical air sirens. > > > > Because car manufactureres build "luxury" vehicles with high sound > > isolation, siren SPL levels have increased dangerously. A noise war > > on our streets has been damaging hearing and causing huge economic loss > > for decades (See Julian Treasure's book on the deleterious impact of urban > > sound). Noise pollution is thought to contribute about 8,000 deaths per > > year in Europe due to adverse cardio-vascular effects. > > > > Partly the problem is due to ignorance of acoustics and psychoacoustics > > at the city planning level. Concepts like attention, awareness, annoyance, > > legibility and so on are conflated, leading to bad decision making. > > > > I really welcome your research. Once you figure out that, in a real urban > > environment with large scale acoustic effects, wailer sirens are the worst > > possible choice, I hope you then take a look at what sounds might actually > > work (hint: short cluster bursts (that invoke attention by inter-band > > dissonance without invoking annoyance) that can be made directional) > > > > (Sadly the AES do not not seem to have my talk in the archives - after > > several > > people told me it was "a bit controversial" (there is a great deal of > > money invested in keeping our streets filled with noise pollution) :) > > > > best, > > Andy Farnell > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
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