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

[Peter Donahue]

Hello Nicole and listers,

    It happened again.

Peter Donahue


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nicole B. Torcolini" <ntorcolini at wavecable.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 11:00 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Stanford grad students solve quiet hybrid 
carproblemforblind people


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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