[nabs-l] Stanford grad students solve quiet hybrid car problemforblind people

[Nicole B. Torcolini]

Sorry, not sure what my computer did.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Stanford grad students solve quiet hybrid car problem for blind people


In 2007 the National Federation of the Blind reported that hybrid cars, 
because they make little noise at slower speeds, posed a hazard to blind 
pedestrians


"I'm used to being able to get sound cues from my environment and negotiate 
accordingly. I hadn't imagined there was anything I really wouldn't be able 
to hear," said Deborah Kent Stein, chairwoman of the National Federation of 
the Blind's Committee on Automotive and Pedestrian Safety. "We did a test, 
and I discovered, to my great dismay, that I couldn't hear it."


Now two Stanford University graduate students have solved that problem by 
creating a soft, high-pitch hum that can be heard when the silent electric 
motor of the hybrid is engaged.


Everett Meyer, co-founder of Enhanced Vehicle Acoustics, who will graduate 
next week with an M.D./Ph.D. degree in immunology, and fellow founder Bryan 
Bai, who also will graduate next week with a Ph.D. in electrical 
engineering, say that adding the sound is a public safety issue, especially 
for blind people who use their hearing to maneuver.


The Palo Alto Daily News says the California blind community already 
supports their invention.


"The specter is that any time you cross a street, you don't know if it's 
safe to cross. ... That's a fundamental change that's happened only in the 
past few years,'' said Brian Bashin, a member of the California National 
Federation of the Blind's Quiet Cars Committee. "In the previous 100 years, 
cars have always made enough noise.''


The patent-pending system designed by Meyer and Bai still will be quieter 
than most gasoline-engine cars.


"At less than 50 decibels, the sound is practically inaudible inside the 
car. But the system externally emits a soft engine noise from four speakers 
attached to the vehicle's front and rear," the Daily News reports.


The sound system plugs into the hybrid's computer system and takes less 
energy than a car radio.
Posted by BA Haller at 7:42 AM

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