- Author
-
Bruck, D.
|
Thomas, I.
|
Ball, M.
- Title
- Waking Effectiveness of Alarms (Auditory, Visual and Tactile) for the Alcohol Impaired.
- Coporate
- Victoria Univ., Australia
- Keywords
-
fire alarm systems
|
waking
|
effectiveness
|
alcohols
|
handicapped
|
fire fatalities
|
sleep
|
signals
|
data analysis
|
human behavior
|
response time
|
blood
|
fire statistics
|
alcohol intoxication
|
adults
- Identifiers
- alcohol and fire fatality; alcohol, auditory alarms and sleep; non-auditory emergency signals and sleep; aims, research questions and design issues; waking scores; signal onset and offset; order of signal presentation effects; waking effectiveness of different signals; signal onset versus signal onset; comparisons to field settings
- Abstract
- Studies of fire fatalities in the US, UK and Australia across young and middle aged adult groups (e.g. 18 to 65 year olds) have consistently shown that alcohol impairment is a key factor in over half of the fire fatalities. One recent study (Ball and Bruck 2004a), using a small sample of young adults, found that the ability to awaken to an auditory alarm was significantly reduced by alcohol intoxication. Furthermore the data suggested that the current high pitched alarm was not as effective at waking this population under sober or alcohol impaired conditions as the alternative auditory signals tested. Other studies, using children and older adults (sober) have also found that the high pitched alarm was not as effective at waking up occupants. In all cases to date an auditory signal called the "mixed T-3" has been found to be the most effective auditory signal for arousing sleepers across a range of age groups. This mixed signal is a square wave with a fundamental frequency of 520 Hz,1 presented in a Temporal 3 (T-3) pattern. In the light of these findings it became important to investigate responsiveness to a range of alternative auditory signals, including a 520 Hz square wave, in a larger sample of sleeping adults who were impaired by alcohol. A further question of interest was whether non-auditory signals, such as strobe lights and bed shakers, would actually be more effective at awakening sleepers under the influence of alcohol than auditory signals. This study addresses these issues. Thirty two young adults aged 18 to 26 were each exposed to a range of signals across two nights during deep sleep (stage 4). Prior to sleep all had consumed alcohol such that their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was measured at .05. Seven signals were tested: (*) 400 Hz square, (*) wave signal in T-3 pulse, (*) 520 Hz square wave signal in T-3 pulse, (*) 500 Hz pure tone in T-3 pulse, (*) 3100 Hz pure tone in T-3 pulse, (*) Bed shaker- under mattress, (*) T-3 pulse, (*) Pillow shaker, (*) T-3 pulse, (*) Strobe light - T-3 pulse (modified).