I need to know if an Arduino board and a sound sensor could be used to detect the sound of ambulances and emergency vehicles around a hospital.
Any ideas appreciated, thank you!
1/ not particularly easy.
2/ Aren't hospitals staffed with loads of people? don't they have ears?
regards
Allan
Thanks for your reply.
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I don't do things because they're easy, I do them because they're hard.
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This is an attempt to save lives which are lost in intersections between emergency vehicles and people with their windows closed and the radio on.
What would you do?
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You might be really good at doing really hard things. With 2 posts to your name so far, we don't have any evidence of that. Therefore this statement is not a sufficient answer to the question.
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Isn't this a solved problem? If there was a real problem then sirens would be louder. There's no Arduino solution that can help.
adolforosado:
I need to know if an Arduino board and a sound sensor could be used to detect the sound of ambulances and emergency vehicles around a hospital.Any ideas appreciated, thank you!
I believe emergency vehicles all turn off their sirens around hospitals. This week, in Seattle, two fire trucks going to the same fire collided at an intersection. Would your plan prevent this?
A more reasonable approach would be to detect the strobe lights and pattern used by all emergency vehicles to tell the traffic signals to give the emergency vehicle a "green" light. No sound detection needed.
Paul
I'm going to ask the question, if you find a way to detect the ambulance siren, who needs to be supplied with
a detector?
Is it a single device at the hospital?
Several devices at the hospital?
One device in each ambulance? (plus the above)
One device in every type of emergency vehicle?
All premises or vehicles in the general area needs one?
Or some other criteria?
Normal private passenger cars to protect themselves if they are unable to hear the sounds.
Thanks for all your responses.
Then you'd need Ford , Toyota ..... etc, etc ...to be required to incorporate such a device into all their products .
What cost per vehicle ? dunno - not zero ....
Cost per life saved ? likewise....
You'd better approach the legislators.
regards
Allan
The solution already being implemented (or at least piloted, I'm not 100% sure) is for EMS vehicles to have heavy bass output through the ground which will shake the cr@p out of everyone.
edit: Rumbler
Nice idea, if you try and trigger on the sound frequency Doppler shift might be an issue. Transponder in all emergency vehicles would be the best idea. With the advent of self driving cars it won't be long before all vehicles have transponders fitted.
trewjohn2001:
With the advent of self driving cars it won't be long before all vehicles have transponders fitted.
To transpond with what?
If Car manufacturers cared, they'd have them already. They're into profits not saving lives.
There is already attempts to sway legislation to require them. People continue to die before that happens.
Yes, it would be a tiny little box outside your windshield/hood with a flashing LED when the frecuencies are detected.
Or inside with a little microphone outside through/glass patch similar to old cell phone antennas.
Private vehicles playing rap with high bass are already competing with the concept.
Thanks for the first actual suggestion for engineering ideas.
Cost should be ridiculous to the point where people can pick this up on a whim at a supermarket checkout lane.
Let's keep it going. It will have to be crowd funded and working independently of banks, politicians or government.
Thanks for all your input!
A device inside private vehicles which could identify the transponder signals of emergency vehicles alerting you when coming to an intersection near you maybe. Can that be done easier than a little box with a nano, a microphone and a few LED's?
My goal is dependability, economy and simplicity.
If you can hear an ambulance yourself standing on the street, a microphone and a microprocessor should too, that's my theory. It's just to counteract closed windows in sound proof cars compounded by music from the radio.
Doppler effect is an issue I had thought pertinent from the start, thanks. I think the detector should be able to hear the range of doppler effect resulting tonality. It's the only thing out there in streets causing that specific kind of noise. Also, maybe the LED's in the alert panel could proportionally light up according to the perceived distance (sound levels) of the emergency vehicles.
Thanks!
You can't expect a gazillion private vehicles to be fitted with receivers for this. Far easier for the way smaller number of EMS vehicles to fit a Rumbler, which from what I'm told, is easily discerned in a vehicle playing loud bassy music.
manor_royal:
To transpond with what?
Each other.
Can that be done easier than a little box with a nano, a microphone and a few LED's?
My goal is dependability, economy and simplicity.
Then forget the little box with a nano, while it would be economic and simple it would in no way be dependable.
Sure you can hear and identify the sound but an Arduino can not dependably do this.
Sorry I forgot to mention it does include an AUDIO FEEDBACK as well. Just like a radar detector.
Why do you think Arduino is not dependable for this and what would you recommend instead?
If Ralph Nader had not insisted on it. You wouldn't have seat belts, children car seats and helmets. Lives need to be saved if at all possible when they are being lost for nothing.
This project is the result of Darwinism as well. An organism detecting a situation and taking an action to modify it.
"Catastrophe equals opportunity"
Thanks for the heads up!
Why do you think Arduino is not dependable for this
Not just the Arduino but any computer program for this is going to suffer from false negitave and false positive responses. So what is an acceptable level of each?
This seems to be a solution looking for a problem. The emergency vehicles around here have multiple alarm sounds, including very loud air horns. The problem is not "hearing", but becoming aware.
Construction equipment, but OSHA, must have loud backup warning sounds. So loud, that the construction workers must wear hearing protection, again by OSHA. Fire fighters must wear hearing protection when in a fire truck, OSHA.
I worked with a programmer who's husband owned a construction company. His equipment had the required backup warning devices. Russ was driven over by equipment backing up while sounding the warning. He had heard the sound so often he was not aware of the danger.
The type of sound or loudness is not the problem. It is making someone aware of the danger. Perhaps it's time for consultation with a research psychiatrist.
Anything added to automobiles to make them move out of the way is a perfect opportunity to be hacked by someone wanting to sell devices to clear they road!
Paul
"No matter how hard you try, some idiot is going to defeat your attempt and hurt himself"
Yep, just look at the number of car accidents on train tracks where folks drive Around crossing gates with flashing lights and clanging bells. How much more obvious can one get?