Ford Confronts Strange, Ear-Piercing Static in F-150 Trucks | Hacker News Reader

Ford Confronts Strange, Ear-Piercing Static in F-150 Trucks

wsj.com

24 pointsbookofjoe9 comments

Interesting, before delving into the article I thought maybe that's a malfunction of a system in which static is played to induce acoustic reflex if a crash is imminent, to protect passengers' hearing. Alas, it's just an amplifier issue.

I went into the article with the same expectation. Is there a manufacturer other than Mercedes that has that feature?

Huh, TIL:

https://www.mercedes-benz.co.uk/passengercars/mercedes-benz-...

The PRE-SAFE® system makes use of the time prior to an impending accident on your behalf. A host of measures are able to reduce the loads generated as a result. The innovative PRE-SAFE® Sound system generates a sound from the speakers and is thus able to trigger a protective reflex in our bodies: our hearing briefly disengages to protect itself from loud crash sounds.

Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SfZ0pEL2Sk

(I wonder what evidence they have of this actually doing what they claim.)

How would you test that?

By testing the hearing of people after accidents with and without this system.

I guess you could also do testing on people who buy vehicles with and without this system - before any accidents.

> When presented with an intense sound stimulus, the stapedius and tensor tympani muscles of the ossicles contract.[7] The stapedius stiffens the ossicular chain by pulling the stapes (stirrup) of the middle ear away from the oval window of the cochlea and the tensor tympani muscle stiffens the ossicular chain by loading the tympanic membrane when it pulls the malleus (hammer) in toward the middle ear. The reflex decreases the transmission of vibrational energy to the cochlea, where it is converted into electrical impulses to be processed by the brain.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_reflex

https://archive.ph/5yAtu

What is a crashed audio codec chip?

Thanks, Alex. I'll take Linux Audio Sucks for $400.

This is probably built into all trucks to be remotely activated only on specific targets, but due to a bug it got activated where it should not have been.

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