Proposed mobile application

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janek

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Hello friends,

My classmates and i are intending to do a project that aims at designing a mobile application that helps people with hearing problems. The application will detect loud sound and then vibrate, show the direction of the sound and type of sound. We would like to seek your opinion if this app will be of help to the deaf community.
 
Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

I can't really think of a situation this would be helpful in ...

Why did you choose this idea specifically?
 
I honestly dont know how you will be able to point in direction of sound with these smartphones? Don't most smartphone have only mono microphone?
 
On the other hand if you developed an app that can difference the sounds like smoke alarm/fire alarm, baby crys from regular background noise in both quiet and noisy environment automatically without eating up the battery power - I'd consider downloading it to my andriod.
 
Thank you for the feedback. To answer your questions.
Anij and Impaired: i will explain on of the scenarios when this app would be useful.

Imagine you are in a house with a child. You are busy doing some stuff and you don't realize that the child has gone out to the backyard. Suddenly, the child hurts himself and starts crying. The app senses the sound and triggers a vibration. It indicates to you that its a sound of a baby's cry and points out the direction of the child. This saves you the inconveniences of trying to figure out the source of the sound and looking for crews of where the sound might have come from.
 
Radioman: Thank you for pointing out the technological concern. We are looking at all possible technologies that may make this possible.
 
It's not a bad idea. If you could pick up specific things like a police/fire siren, it would be helpful when driving.
 
I have no idea the difference in sound between a turbocharged engine in a Camaro Z28 and those Supercharged engines that were available in Toyota Previas. DO you think you could develop an application that helps tell the difference?
 
janek said:
Thank you for the feedback. To answer your questions.
Anij and Impaired: i will explain on of the scenarios when this app would be useful.

Imagine you are in a house with a child. You are busy doing some stuff and you don't realize that the child has gone out to the backyard. Suddenly, the child hurts himself and starts crying. The app senses the sound and triggers a vibration. It indicates to you that its a sound of a baby's cry and points out the direction of the child. This saves you the inconveniences of trying to figure out the source of the sound and looking for crews of where the sound might have come from.
Click to expand...

A "smart" baby monitor... Good idea.
 
Wirelessly posted

I think we Deafies would more inclined to be more attentive and alert to our children. We put common sense safety measures into practice. Such as keep the doors locked. I've raised 7 children and never needed the assistance of a device to alert me to my babies and toddlers. The parental inner radar is sufficient enough.
 
Thank you very much for the feedback :)
VacationGuy234: Thank you for the suggestion
dereksbicycles: We will begin with a simple prototype and then we will add such sophisticated sounds like the ones you identified above.
impared: Thank you. Do you think it would be better to limit it to babies or should we add more sound?
Beclak: I appreciate your insight and your experience. The app will have other modules as well for example alerts for sounds like sirens, fire alarms, car horns etc. Do you think these would be helpful?
 
janek said:
Thank you for the feedback. To answer your questions.
Anij and Impaired: i will explain on of the scenarios when this app would be useful.

Imagine you are in a house with a child. You are busy doing some stuff and you don't realize that the child has gone out to the backyard. Suddenly, the child hurts himself and starts crying. The app senses the sound and triggers a vibration. It indicates to you that its a sound of a baby's cry and points out the direction of the child. This saves you the inconveniences of trying to figure out the source of the sound and looking for crews of where the sound might have come from.
Click to expand...

Well if a parent hasn't childproofed their home, or taught their older children to "check in before checking out" (let them know they're going outside) then really the parent has much bigger issues than needing a smart baby monitor.

I have baby gates on any "important access points" and make sure the exterior doors are locked. With an infant I put them in a play pen, or high chair if leaving a room for a moment (or take them with me). For toddlers and older - you have to know your kid ... can you leave them for a minute to run down to get laundry, or do they need to come with you etc.

Honestly, I still don't see a lot of point.
There's already baby monitors which work great to notify if a child is crying in a given location.

Frankly those parents who've "lost" their small child in their home (or allowed them to wander outside the home!) have got bigger issues and likely wouldn't care if there was a device like you're mentioning or not (inattentive parents tend not to shell out $100 for a fancy monitor).

Sorry
 
BecLak said:
Wirelessly posted

I think we Deafies would more inclined to be more attentive and alert to our children. We put common sense safety measures into practice. Such as keep the doors locked. I've raised 7 children and never needed the assistance of a device to alert me to my babies and toddlers. The parental inner radar is sufficient enough.
Click to expand...

I agree ... most of us have the common sense to make any adjustment to make sure we have a safe environment for any children in our lives. It's not that difficult and really isn't a lot different than what any good parent/caregiver should be doing anyway.
 
Won't this kind of thing consume a lot of battery power?
 
VamPyroX said:
Won't this kind of thing consume a lot of battery power?
Click to expand...

That would be my concern. Myself actually knowing which direction a sound is coming from would be kind of cool. I spent 6 years with an aid only in 1 ear, was told the other one was too deaf it would cause my ear drum to vibrate, so I could never tell what direction sound was coming from. I can't tell you how many times I ran around the house when the wireless phone was ringing looking for the stupid thing. Nobody would ever put it back in its cradle. So for someone who only has hearing out of one ear it might be a little more helpful. Not sure if it would be worth it though, you'll find the sound eventually........
 
ambrosia said:
That would be my concern. Myself actually knowing which direction a sound is coming from would be kind of cool. I spent 6 years with an aid only in 1 ear, was told the other one was too deaf it would cause my ear drum to vibrate, so I could never tell what direction sound was coming from. I can't tell you how many times I ran around the house when the wireless phone was ringing looking for the stupid thing. Nobody would ever put it back in its cradle. So for someone who only has hearing out of one ear it might be a little more helpful. Not sure if it would be worth it though, you'll find the sound eventually........
Click to expand...
I wear only one hearing aid. My other ear is very sensitive to low sounds and I get headaches if I wear a hearing aid in that ear. I can hear things, but I can't recognize the sound. Everything sounds the same to me. That's why I spent most of my life with only one hearing aid. :)
 
Thank you very much for the insights, the experiences and all the feedback :) For the battery issue, we will try to optimize its consumption as much as possible.
 
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