000 01905nab a2200193 4500
005 20260520000945.0
008 260224s2010 xxu
245 0 0 _aAwakening of sleeping people: a decade of research
260 _a
_b
_cjul. 2010
270 _a26/08/2010 ; 26/08/2010
300 _a19 p. ; 743-761
520 _aTranscripción del resumen del autor. The results of over a decade of research at Victoria University on the effectiveness of various smoke alarm signals for awakening sleeping people are presented and compared. The results show that the signal level (sound volume, light intensity, etc.) and the type of sound or signal affect the probability of people being woken up by an alarm. The 520 Hz square wave sound was the most effective of the sounds tested, waking most (often all) of the participants. The smoke alarms currently used in Australia and the USA emit sounds of about 3,100 Hz. Many participants did not wake up to such tones even when very loud at the pillow (95 dBA). In all groups tested the high-pitched sound was the worst and in most, notably children, young adults (sober and 0.05 BAC) and older adults, it was much worse than the 520 Hz square wave signal. In adults with hearing loss it was more than seven times as effective as the current signal and more effective than the bed and pillow shakers. Strobe lights were found to have very poor waking effectiveness. A voice alarm was quite effective for younger age groups but not for older adults. The voice alarm was also found to have real problems in waking participants with limited English. It is recommended that the 520 Hz square wave sound in the T-3 pattern be adopted as a replacement for the current smoke alarm sound.
581 _a3
773 0 _tFire Technology
_g46
942 _cARTICULO
100 1 _aThomas, Ian
_946648
100 1 _aBruck, Dorothy
_946649
999 _c176329
_d176329