New article indicates that ‘ramp up’ alert tones can reduce stress
New research published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (JOEH) suggests that fire departments can reduce stress on fire-fighters by signalling emergencies with alarms that gradually increase in intensity instead of sudden, full-volume alerts. The article, “Effect of Station-specific Alerting and Ramp-up Tones on Firefighters’ Alarm Time Heart Rates,” comes on the eve of the 35th Annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend, Oct. 8–9.
This study was conducted by Authors James J. MacNeal, David C. Cone, and Christopher L. Wistrom over three months and involved 42 fire-fighters at an urban three-station fire department. Fire-fighters participating in the study wore devices on their wrists that measured their heart rates. Researchers analysed participants’ heart-rate increases in response to standard alerting—the sudden, high-volume alarms—and to alerts that gradually ‘ramp up’ the audio volume. Study results showed that standard alerting caused a median increase in heart rate of 7 beats per minute (bpm), while the ramp-up tones caused a median increase of 5 bpm. In a post-study survey, participating fire-fighters indicated a strong preference for the ramp-up tones.
“Ramp-up tones were also perceived as the best alerting method to reduce stress during both the day and overnight,” the authors write. “This study suggests that the manner in which fire-fighters are alerted does have an influence on their physiologic response to the alarm.”
Read the full article online here: http://oeh.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15459624.2016.1183018
This study was conducted by Authors James J. MacNeal, David C. Cone, and Christopher L. Wistrom over three months and involved 42 fire-fighters at an urban three-station fire department. Fire-fighters participating in the study wore devices on their wrists that measured their heart rates. Researchers analysed participants’ heart-rate increases in response to standard alerting—the sudden, high-volume alarms—and to alerts that gradually ‘ramp up’ the audio volume. Study results showed that standard alerting caused a median increase in heart rate of 7 beats per minute (bpm), while the ramp-up tones caused a median increase of 5 bpm. In a post-study survey, participating fire-fighters indicated a strong preference for the ramp-up tones.
“Ramp-up tones were also perceived as the best alerting method to reduce stress during both the day and overnight,” the authors write. “This study suggests that the manner in which fire-fighters are alerted does have an influence on their physiologic response to the alarm.”
Read the full article online here: http://oeh.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15459624.2016.1183018
