Background
I’m considering a possible way to assist paramedics and emergency responders who are dealing with large incidents which might have multiple units attending, with a control structure.
The easiest example might be a multi-car collision on a motorway, or a derailment.
I’m not familiar with the ambulance/police’s communication systems, and if this suggestion is already redundant, I apologise.
Positional Audio
Positional audio / 3D audio is frequently used by pilots to help them separate the source of the communication. They might have the control tower they’re approaching in the front right of their headset, their colleagues in the front left, whilst various audio warnings for various systems in the rear right.
It turns out the brain is pretty good at distinguishing the location on voices and applying context based on location. By having the alerts in different “locations”, the user can quickly tune in and out of channels/conversations – as they would at a dinner party – without having to manually touch equipment to switch between channels.
Whilst a few years ago, this type of technology would probably have been prohibitively expensive, things have changed vastly.
Mumble
The open source audio conferencing system, known as Mumble, has a positional audio system, and can run on a multitude of mobile devices including the iPhone.
Whilst, I wouldn’t suggest this use in an operational environment without more thought, one could quickly put together prototype of this type of symbol using Mumble.
Using Mumble on mobile devices, and stereo headsets, one could combine various different communication channels and allow personnel to have a lot of communicative power whilst allowing them to do their job without them having to touch anything.
I imagine that in complex situations with their own command structure and multiple units, that communication within your unit can sometimes be hard to pick out due to lots of things happening at the same time.
Use Within Unit
One could set up a “transmit when the user says something” across their unit, this could then be presented in their unit as coming from the front-left. This would reduce the likelihood of personnel raising their voice simply to be heard as the unit would be able to clearly hear each other in the front-left channel.
Use Within Control Structure
One could set up a “push to transmit” system, on their headset, so to talk on their control frequency, with superiors/across all commanders. This channel could be presented in the front right of a headset so that it’d be audible if required, but personnel could also tune out of it.
Other Use
One could put other audio channels in the back left and aback left as desired – personal hearing the control channel for another service’s operation at the incident could be helpful, alternatively, it could be a helicopter spotter team provider reconnaissance, or something else.
Summary
By making full use of psycho-audible effects and stereo hearing to create positional audio., I think that healthcare (and emergency services) personnel could communicate during complex incidents more effectively, in a natural feeling and easy to understand way.
I think the open source Mumble program, could easily be configured to prototype such a system, using headsets on mobile devices.
Responses: