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Did Your Code Ever Make Anyone Deaf?
theodp writes "Siemens AG anticipates additional costs from a software problem with new mobile phones that has led retailers to suspend sales. Five models of its new 65 series can emit a piercing melody into users' ears if the battery fails during a call, causing hearing damage in extreme cases, according to a statement."
Seems like a simple test case to me: battery fails during a call.
i know you can't cover every corner case, but, er a cell phone hitting low battery is not what i'd consider a corner case. Now, if there was 3rd party this or that crammed in there after the fact (ie customer did that crap), now way to forsee that, but damn....hearing damage? C'mon, if i had to choose one of two options:
a) batt low, be fucking LOUD to warn of it..
b> batt low, warn, beep, blink, flash, beep more...and then even more...
hell, beep that ass off, but loud enough to damage one's ear? Fuck that. No one to blame, but the dudes that made it...period.
Anyone know the db and frequency of any of the ring tones?
Could not find the info. Purposelly withheld from the articles?
100% Insightful
"Hearing damage" is sort of ambiguous I guess. You can lose your hearing in very small increments, only noticable over months or years of exposure. I doubt the phone would be able to output enough of a blast to take out your eardrums.
Its called Tinnitus.
I have tinnitus
(I used to have it then it went away... then I was exposed to more loud noises and it came back)
I went to a Tinnitus specialist (Ear Nose and throat) and got my hearing tested. I have an above average hearing. However I hear ringing in my ears. After you are exposed to loud noise (usually amplified music) sometimes you can hear a almost like putting your ear on a shell... Its like a blowing noise...
(people who go clubbing know this)
This initial noise can go away... However sometimes if you are stressed out your mind will hear this noise and it will asume that you need to hear it. Because thoes actual hairs in your ear are now damanged and your mind keeps the sound. Then you will hear the 'ringing noise' in your ears when there is no other noise avaliable.
This old Russian doctor who I saw told me this:
"your brain is like a computer, there is no problem with your hardware, this is a software error. You need to learn how to ignore it" (this guy was like 70 years old, really neat old guy)
The only way to stop it is to releax and have a background noise. If you pay attention to the noise you will get extremely stressed out and it will become worse.
Your ears will also become more sensitive to louder noises, not really its just that you think to your self loud noise bad.
NOW the reason people listen (like loud music), your brain percieves the pain in your ears due to the loud noise. It then releases a chemical in your brain that is similar to morphine.
(according to the doctor)
"You win again Gravity!" -Futurama (Zapp)
Most software CLAIMS to be exempt. There are cases where it can be liable, especially when it's marketed to a specific purpose and fails. Kinda like those "Not responsible for broken windshields" signs on the back of dump trucks... they may say they aren't responsible, but at least in my state, they're responsible if they didn't secure their load correctly and a rock comes off and breaks my windshield.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Some rough guesstimates--I'm in a bit of a hurry this morning, and someone is welcome to do a sanity check.
Say the phone rings at perceived 85 dB when it's on your belt or in your pocket. That's loud enough to be heard over most traffic downtown, though you would likely miss it if a truck was going by. Figure the phone is one meter (a little over three feet) away from your eardrum.
When the phone is at your ear, the speaker is maybe three centimeters (about an inch) from your eardrum. That's a reduction in distance by a factor of around thirty or so. Since sound intensity follows an inverse square relation, you're looking at about a thousand times as much intensity. The decibel scale is logarithmic, so that's an extra 30 dB right there, putting us at 115 dB.
If the phone is a little louder than that initial estimate, or held slightly closer to the ear, we're moving towards 120 dB and up. Even if it's not doing permanent harm, those sounds are loud enough to be physically painful at short durations, especially if the person is listening intently and not expecting to be blasted. The startle response that's prompted could also be harmful.
~Idarubicin
You'd expect your code to be safety-critical on a jetliner or a radiation therapy machine, but would it occur to you to worry about danger to humans in a cell phone UI?
This makes at least two places that cell phone embedded software has safety implications. The other is charge control on lithium batteries: a lithium fire in your pocket is enough to ruin your whole day.