Jul 27, 2010

So in other news: A US tourist is sued Qantas Airways because, shortly after boarding the aircraft:

The boy allegedly leaned back over his armrest toward Ms Barnard and let out a scream so severe that blood erupted from her ears, leaving her “stone cold deaf”.

Apparently the woman was wearing a hearing aid which exacerbated the level of the scream. In any event, Qantas apparently reached a confidential settlement with the woman.

I’ve had to fly with temperamental children, but luckily I’ve never had anything that bad happen to me - and if it did, hopefully my ER6i’s would shield me from the brunt of it.

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Jul 12, 2010

Introducing HDBaseT:

• Inexpensive, widely available CAT 5/5e/6 networking cable
• Standard RJ-45 connector
• Long cable lengths
• Field terminable
• Up to 100 watts of power (!)
• HD video
• High-def multi-channel lossless-audio capable
• High-speed ethernet networking

I think I join the rest of the audio community in praying to $deity for a quick death to HDMI.

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Jun 17, 2010

Movity is a Bay Area startup with a goal of making it easier for people to move by identifying compatible neighborhood characteristics so prospective renters and buyers know “what it is REALLY like to live there.” One of the characteristics they have identified as being important to buyers and renters is noise. To that end, they’ve produced the TenderNoise Project, a demo that shows measured noise levels in and around San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.

The data were collected using Reed ST-173 logging meters (also sold as the CEM DT-173) deployed at various intersections in the neighborhood. The levels are high, but they are consistent with what I remember measuring in and around downtown San Francisco.

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Jun 14, 2010

Via the Nissan LEAF blog - Nissan has unveiled the sound it’s Nissan LEAF electric car will make to warn pedestrians of its approach. Check out the vids below:

The blog calls is “the worst sound on earth” - I personally don’t think it’s all that bad. It’s fairly high frequency which will make it noticeable (and potentially more annoying at a given sound level) but on the other hand it should be easy to focus in the direction of travel and minimize wayside noise. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

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Jun 10, 2010

Web Urbanist has depictions of the acoustic detection apparatus used by armies to indentify enemy airplanes before the days of radar.

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