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."

Comments

No, but..

[Anonymous Coward]

it.slashdot.org made me blind.

Verizon Wireless

[968134]

Can you hear me now? What?

Testing.

[hot_Karls_bad_cavern]

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.

Misread

[xsupergr0verx]

I thought it said "Did Your Code Ever Make Anyone Dead?"

That time will come, but first the killer robots need some touching up around the joints...

Let that be a lesson

[Insurgent2]

That's what happens when you outsource the hardware to Singapore and the software to India.
"Soft beep" in Mandarin probably translates to "Loud, deafening tone" in Hindi.

Re:Hearing damage = deaf

[AlphaPB]

The quiet buzzing when you're in a silent place is actually caused by the sound-sensitive cilia in your inner ear vibrating of their own accord when they don't have any external stimulation. This is a normal phenomenon.

Of course, this is different from the kind of hearing damage that you're referring to. Maybe you should wear earplugs while practising. I wear them at rock concerts. You ought to look into musician's plugs, which have specially tuned noise-dampening responses that are consistent in how they reduce noise levels at various frequencies.

Re:Hearing damage = deaf

[obi-1-kenobi]

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)

I've got a new M65...

[Zarathustra.fi]

And it's software is a piece of crap, full of bugs! I know there're software updates out there, but conveniently Siemens didn't supply the phone with a data cable. But hey, I could buy it for 30 euros! Brilliant, I can buy myself a right to patch the phone!! Or, as it turned out, I could find the single provider in my home town who's able to patch the phone. Though, I'm not sure if it's cost free even there..

Enough of personal whine, here're some of the most annoying bugs and misfeatures:

- The sounds are really loud, even in their lowest setting.
- Software crashes if I try to read SMS messages through a shortcut interface. Instead, I must go carefully through few extra menus not to crash the system.
- GUI jams if I cancel a call just after I dialed it in
- The battery dies in just a few days' casual use
- Sometimes during battery charging the screen backlight hangs on, so when you pick up your phone, the backlight has used all the power in the battery and it's all out again.

So, these are the "few" little bugs I'm experiencing. My previous phone was not totally bug free itself, but those few little hickups were nothing considered to these MAJOR bugs Siemens let in the wild with a crappy software on a good looking phone!