Re: Tone Deafness

From	Don Y <this@isnotme.com>
Newsgroups	comp.arch.embedded, sci.electronics.design
Subject	Re: Tone Deafness
Date	2013-08-15 11:16 -0700
Organization	Aioe.org NNTP Server
Message-ID	<kuj5ts$vf0$1@speranza.aioe.org> (permalink)
References	<WPGdneG5cYUrnpHPnZ2dnUVZ5ugAAAAA@giganews.com> <MyNameForward-85A008.12052215082013@news.eternal-september.org> <rl7Pt.63007$BW2.60682@fx04.am4>

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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Hi Martin,

On 8/15/2013 9:29 AM, Martin Brown wrote:

> Also be careful how annoying you make the sound - aircraft cockpit
> sounders have it about right to grab attention but not paralyse the crew
> into inaction or worse still forcing them to look up how to disable the
> wretched alarm so that they can hear themselves think.

The character of the sound can be changed to suit its intent.
E.g., "you have a phone call" can be far less insistent than
"the house is on fire".  "System operational" more subtle
than "Oh, Crap!  Something's fried!".

I've designed products that played a gentle, unobtrusive little tune
after POST as an indication that they were ready to operate and all
diagnostics had passed successfully.  Yet, would "blow raspberries" if
something had failed in the test.  People (users) can become accustomed
to a pleasant little annunciator (and learn to *miss* it if they
fail to hear it as expected).  And, similarly, *alarmed* when
confronted with some discordant mess!

[Trick is making it *subtle* so it doesn't become annoying -- like
*all* of the Windows sign-on "melodies"!]

> The latter was apparently the fate of the unfortunate Three Mile Island
> operators who were faced with multiple failure alarms and klaxons going
> off left right and centre. They were well aware they had big trouble and
> didn't need to spend all that extra time consulting manuals and fighting
> the instrumentation to get the alarm sounders cancelled.

Experimenting with "audio displays" (i.e., where you *want* to use
audio as the primary communication medium), I've pretty much
concluded that a "normal person" can handle three audio channels
concurrently -- provided they have different types of content.

We're all used to dealing with "background noise".  Whether it
is chatter of colleagues, guests at a party or background music,
etc.

On top of this, we can *focus* (consciously!) on a specific audio
interchange:  a conversation with another party, the sound from
a TV program, etc.

Finally, we can tolerate *terse* (!) interruptions/annunciators
that are *intended* to distract us (even if we would prefer NOT
to be distracted).   A ringing doorbell/phone, a kid wanting
to "go to Tommy's house", an item crashing to the floor, etc.

The "interruption" channel tries to "steal our focus" (i.e.,
become the "foreground channel" that we are actively engaged
with).  If we accept this altered focus, we relegate the
previous foreground/focus channel to another level of
"background" where it may disappear in the noise, etc.

The problem seems to be when our attention is *tugged* in different
directions simultaneously -- or nearly simultaneously.  E.g., the
phone ringing coincident with a dish falling onto the floor.  At
these times, background and foreground seem to fall from
consideration as we try to sort out everything that is happening
"at once".

Managing this "interruptions" channel is then the primary design
issue.  I.e., if you've already signaled a *fire*, it's probably
not wise to try to bother the listener with a notification that
"the phone is ringing"!  (that will just be a distraction and
lead to "overload")

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be many (any?) hard and fast
rules regarding how frequent "events" can enter this channel.
And, the ability of a user/listener to actively manage that
event space seems to vary over time, activity, age, etc.

[I have a friend who can't pick black marbles out of a bag of
mixed black and white marbles if you talk to him while he is
performing this (mindless?) task!  Other folks can't tell
you which relative direction an alarm was sounded while doing
any sort of task that requires more than the slightest
concentration.]

<shrug>

Thread

Tone Deafness Tim Wescott <tim@seemywebsite.really> - 2013-08-14 17:24 -0500
  Re: Tone Deafness Rob Gaddi <rgaddi@technologyhighland.invalid> - 2013-08-14 15:43 -0700
    Re: Tone Deafness Robert Baer <robertbaer@localnet.com> - 2013-08-14 17:18 -0800
    Re: Tone Deafness David Brown <david@westcontrol.removethisbit.com> - 2013-08-15 08:53 +0200
    Re: Tone Deafness josephkk <joseph_barrett@sbcglobal.net> - 2013-08-15 08:48 +0000
    Re: Tone Deafness Tom Gardner <spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2013-08-15 10:17 +0100
    Re: Tone Deafness Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> - 2013-08-15 12:09 +0100
      Re: Tone Deafness Don Y <this@isnotme.com> - 2013-08-15 10:47 -0700
      Re: Tone Deafness gof@somewhere.invalid (Adam Wysocki) - 2013-08-28 18:44 +0000
  Re: Tone Deafness Frank Miles <fpm@u.washington.edu> - 2013-08-14 22:51 +0000
  Re: Tone Deafness Fredxx <fredxx@nospam.com> - 2013-08-14 23:53 +0100
  Re: Tone Deafness Syd Rumpo <usenet@nononono.co.uk> - 2013-08-15 00:05 +0100
  Re: Tone Deafness Syd Rumpo <usenet@nononono.co.uk> - 2013-08-15 00:13 +0100
    Re: Tone Deafness Jan Panteltje <pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> - 2013-08-15 05:46 +0000
    Re: Tone Deafness Don Y <this@isnotme.com> - 2013-08-14 23:31 -0700
  Re: Tone Deafness John Larkin <jlarkin@highlandtechnology.com> - 2013-08-14 16:14 -0700
    Re: Tone Deafness Tim Wescott <tim@seemywebsite.really> - 2013-08-14 18:58 -0500
      Re: Tone Deafness Tom Gardner <spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2013-08-15 09:22 +0100
    Re: Tone Deafness RobertMacy <robert.a.macy@gmail.com> - 2013-08-15 07:53 -0700
      Re: Tone Deafness John Larkin <jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> - 2013-08-15 08:18 -0700
        Re: Tone Deafness "Boudewijn Dijkstra" <sp4mtr4p.boudewijn@indes.com> - 2013-08-22 12:27 +0200
  Re: Tone Deafness Don Y <this@isnotme.com> - 2013-08-14 17:15 -0700
  Re: Tone Deafness Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-08-14 17:21 -0700
  Re: Tone Deafness Tom Gardner <spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2013-08-15 02:11 +0100
  Re: Tone Deafness Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2013-08-14 18:29 -0700
    Re: Tone Deafness "Tim Williams" <tmoranwms@charter.net> - 2013-08-14 22:51 -0500
  Re: Tone Deafness Vladimir Vassilevsky <nospam@nowhere.com> - 2013-08-14 21:34 -0500
    Re: Tone Deafness "Tim Williams" <tmoranwms@charter.net> - 2013-08-14 23:07 -0500
      Re: Tone Deafness "P E Schoen" <paul@peschoen.com> - 2013-08-15 21:48 -0400
      Re: Tone Deafness gof@somewhere.invalid (Adam Wysocki) - 2013-08-28 18:42 +0000
        Re: Tone Deafness "Tim Williams" <tmoranwms@charter.net> - 2013-08-28 16:38 -0500
    Re: Tone Deafness Tom Gardner <spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2013-08-15 09:24 +0100
      Re: Tone Deafness pippo2@disney.com (Jack) - 2013-08-15 10:48 +0200
        Re: Tone Deafness Tom Gardner <spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2013-08-15 10:24 +0100
          Re: Tone Deafness Paul <paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk> - 2013-08-15 14:00 +0100
  Re: Tone Deafness Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2013-08-14 22:25 -0500
  Re: Tone Deafness Jan Panteltje <pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> - 2013-08-15 05:42 +0000
    Re: Tone Deafness "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> - 2013-08-15 10:23 -0400
  Re: Tone Deafness "Tom Del Rosso" <tomd_u1@verizon.net.invalid> - 2013-08-15 08:30 -0400
    Re: Tone Deafness nico@puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel) - 2013-08-15 19:07 +0000
      Re: Tone Deafness "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> - 2013-08-15 15:40 -0400
        Re: Tone Deafness "Tom Del Rosso" <tomd_u1@verizon.net.invalid> - 2013-08-16 22:23 -0400
          Re: Tone Deafness "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> - 2013-08-17 04:26 -0400
            Re: Tone Deafness josephkk <joseph_barrett@sbcglobal.net> - 2013-08-18 05:00 +0000
            Re: Tone Deafness gof@somewhere.invalid (Adam Wysocki) - 2013-08-28 18:48 +0000
    Re: Tone Deafness Charlie E. <edmondson@ieee.org> - 2013-08-15 15:48 -0700
      Re: Tone Deafness Spehro Pefhany <speffSNIP@interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> - 2013-08-15 19:55 -0400
        Re: Tone Deafness Stef <stef33d@yahooI-N-V-A-L-I-D.com.invalid> - 2013-08-16 09:30 +0200
        Re: Tone Deafness Charlie E. <edmondson@ieee.org> - 2013-08-16 13:47 -0700
      Re: Tone Deafness T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net> - 2013-08-16 01:50 -0400
        Re: Tone Deafness Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2013-08-16 10:16 -0500
      Re: Tone Deafness Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> - 2013-08-16 09:16 +0100
      Re: Tone Deafness gof@somewhere.invalid (Adam Wysocki) - 2013-08-28 18:50 +0000
        Re: Tone Deafness Charlie E. <edmondson@ieee.org> - 2013-08-28 19:44 -0700
          Re: Tone Deafness gof@somewhere.invalid (Adam Wysocki) - 2013-08-29 09:26 +0000
            Re: Tone Deafness Charlie E. <edmondson@ieee.org> - 2013-08-29 09:17 -0700
  Re: Tone Deafness Ecnerwal <MyNameForward@ReplaceWithMyVices.Com.invalid> - 2013-08-15 12:05 -0400
    Re: Tone Deafness Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> - 2013-08-15 17:29 +0100
      Re: Tone Deafness Tom Gardner <spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2013-08-15 18:00 +0100
      Re: Tone Deafness Don Y <this@isnotme.com> - 2013-08-15 11:16 -0700
        Re: Tone Deafness josephkk <joseph_barrett@sbcglobal.net> - 2013-08-16 02:56 +0000
          Re: Tone Deafness Don Y <this@isnotme.com> - 2013-08-15 21:47 -0700
            Re: Tone Deafness josephkk <joseph_barrett@sbcglobal.net> - 2013-08-17 16:36 +0000
              Re: Tone Deafness Don Y <this@isnotme.com> - 2013-08-17 11:49 -0700
  Re: Tone Deafness NotReallyMe <nrm@vallidatedsoftware.com> - 2013-08-16 10:23 -0700
    Re: Tone Deafness Jan Panteltje <pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> - 2013-08-16 17:29 +0000
      Re: Tone Deafness "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> - 2013-08-17 04:32 -0400
      Re: Tone Deafness "Boudewijn Dijkstra" <sp4mtr4p.boudewijn@indes.com> - 2013-08-22 13:10 +0200
  Re: Tone Deafness Jim Stewart <jstewart@jkmicro.com> - 2013-08-20 13:18 -0700
  Re: Tone Deafness bbhack <bbhack@gmail.com> - 2013-08-25 23:49 -0500
    Re: Tone Deafness bbhack <bbhack@gmail.com> - 2013-08-26 01:21 -0500
    Re: Tone Deafness Jan Panteltje <pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> - 2013-08-26 07:01 +0000
    Re: Tone Deafness josephkk <joseph_barrett@sbcglobal.net> - 2013-08-28 03:51 +0000

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