This last paragraph inviting a minimum noise standard is reasonable. > On Wednesday, the president of the NFB's Maryland chapter planned to > present written testimony asking for a minimum sound standard for > hybrids to be included in the state's ..
And along with that a maximum noise standard, why not? With some proper psycho-acoustic, perceptual and physics research to determine suitable warnings for given speeds then sound signature related to speed would make sense. A functional rather than aestheic approach would stop the streets being turned into a jumble of confusing, competeing noises and actually help blind _and_ sighted people make judgements. On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:01:53 -0400 ede cameron <[email protected]> wrote: > From my understanding having quiet cars (electric) make noise (our some sound > similar to a gas driven car) is due > to pressure primarily from the blind who rely on the sound cars make to > navigate in urban environments. > > http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21112810/ > > ede > On 2010-07-10, at 7:43 AM, Andy Farnell wrote: > > > > > The translation was so bad you might even get completely > > reversed scores for some of these questions. > > > > An interesting topic though. > > > > I've discussed this with two groups of undergrad and > > masters students recently. > > > > It is likely that legislation will quickly be > > needed to deal with customised car sounds, because > > human nature won't permit some people to have > > ordinary, quiet, functional ones. It will > > quickly become a race to have the most disturbing > > sound once there is a market for this technology. > > > > As an environmental issue, noise pollution is the > > boisterous elephant in the street. > > Nobody wants to tackle it. Because sound is a > > secondary faculty it gets pushed under the carpet > > in discussions. For example new London buses with > > gas turbo engines cut CO2, but they also reduce the > > quality of life by keeping people awake at night with > > their much louder screaming engines. > > > > Helath and safety measures have increased the power > > output (and perceived loudness by adding more noise > > and inharmonics) of sirens, so now the vehicles can > > speed even faster. While they may get there 20 seconds > > earlier and save a life, 10,000 other people along the > > route have their peace and concentration shattered. > > Cumulatively the adverse health issues (hearing damage, > > stress, sleeplessness) plus the loss of productivity > > may outweigh any benefits of louder sirens. > > Yes this is Schopenhauer for the 21st Century, but > > nothing has changed. You can pump 120 dB of doofcar > > noise into the street and nobody looks twice, but > > if you started pumping poisonous gas into the street > > you'll be thrown in jail. Only one kind of pollution > > is trendy to decry. > > > > Meanwhile, car manufacturers build ever quieter > > interiors that are impervious to external noise. > > So there is a 'war' going on. Drivers want to be > > cocooned in a private world, while inflicting their > > 'personality' on the outside. This is a pathological > > stance. > > > > New technologies might be optical, or radio, that > > allow emergency vehicles to signal ahead to roadside > > beacons or dasboard indicators in cars. Satnavs could be > > modified to prominently indicate nearby emergency > > vehicles. > > > > Directional demodulation sound could be employed for > > sirens as only those in front of the vehicle need to > > hear it is coming. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, 8 Jul 2010 22:35:34 +0200 > > András Murányi <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 9:17 PM, hghoyer <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > >>> Hi, > >>> > >>> I would be glad if you participate in my brief survey. > >>> It is about sounds in computer games and electric cars ... > >>> http://research.hghoyer.de/index.php?sid=71581&lang=en > >>> > >>> Sorry, my question has to do only indirectly related to PD. > >>> I am happy you are interested, include evaluation of the survey! > >>> > >>> Thanks Hans > >>> > >> > >> Interesting stuff. Please let me just drop my 2 cents in: > >> (SPOILER ALERT!) > >> - Some of the (english language) questions were really hard for to > >> understand (maybe because i'm not native english either) > >> - Lot of talk about sound with no sounds! I would have been happy to listen > >> to different sounds and express my preferences, but deciding on _loose > >> descriptions_ of sounds is much harder for me. > >> > >> Andras > > > > > > -- > > Andy Farnell <[email protected]> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > [email protected] mailing list > > UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> > > http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list > > > _______________________________________________ > [email protected] mailing list > UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> > http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list -- Andy Farnell <[email protected]> _______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
