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            Acoustical Warning Devices as Emergency Warning Signals, Phase 2
      

      
  Document Series
              Technical Reports


      
  Author
          Federal Railroad Administration


      
Report Number
              DOT/FRA/ORD-21/13

  Office
              RDI-22


      Subject
                    Rolling Stock


      
  Keywords
              Emergency Warning Signal, EWS, train horn, trespassers, music masking sounds, reaction time, Acoustic Warning Device, AWD, music, listening, rolling stock


      

      
      
              
                  
      
              
  Document
              AWD EWS Phase 2.pdf (4.07 MB)

      
              The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sponsored a project to demonstrate the effectiveness of an Acoustical Warning Device (AWD) to be used for generating a secondary Emergency Warning Signal (EWS). The focus of this Phase 2 work is to warn trespassers of an approaching train through the development of an EWS that produces a sense of urgency, is noticeable to wearers of headphones, and identifiable as a train. Several EWS sounds were developed and evaluated in surveys to assess the participant’s response of the sense of urgency and detectability. Researchers identified sound characteristics that enhance detectability.

***See Also:***

Acoustical Warning Devices as Emergency Warning Systems, Phase 1
	Acoustical Warning Devices as Emergency Warning Systems, Phase 3
      
            
      
      
              Last updated: Friday, March 19, 2021 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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