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Fire Alarm Signal Recognition Proulx, G.; Laroche, C.; Jaspers-Fayer, F.; Lavall�e, R.
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Fire Alarm Signal Recognition
Proulx, G.; Laroche, C.; Jaspers-Fayer, F.; Lavallée, R.
IRC-IR-828
www.nrc.ca/irc/ircpubs
NRC-CNRC
Fire Alarm Signal Recognition Guylène Proulx, Chantal Laroche, Fern Jaspers-Fayer and Rosanne Lavallée
Internal Report No. 828 Date of issue: June 2001
ii
Fire Alarm Signal Recognition Authors affiliations:
Guylène Proulx, Ph.D. and Fern Jaspers-Fayer Fire Risk Management Program Institute for Research in Construction National Research Council Canada
and
Chantal Laroche, Ph.D. and Rosanne Lavallée Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Faculty of Health Sciences University of Ottawa
NRC Contract: B4521
iii
Fire Alarm Signal Recognition G. Proulx, C. Laroche, F. Jaspers-Fayer, R. Lavallée
TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ………………………………………………………………………
v
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ……………………………………………………………………..
vi
RÉSUMÉ ..……………………………………………………………………………………… viii 1.0 INTRODUCTION ..…………………………………………………………………………
1
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………………………………………….
2
3.0 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ..…………………………………………………………….
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4.0 METHODOLOGY …………………………………………………………………………
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4.1 Participants ………………………………………………………………………..
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4.2 Signals Tested …………………………………………………………………….
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4.3 Materials …………………………………………………………………………..
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4.4 Procedure ………………………………………………………………………..
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5.0 STUDY RESULTS ……………………………………………………………………….
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5.1 Respondent Profile ………………………………………………………………
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5.2 Merging Data from the Three CDs …………………………………………….
13
5.3 Signal Recollection ………………………………………………………………
14
5.4 Signal Identification ……………………………………………………………… 15 5.5 Signal Recollection and Identification ………………………………………….
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5.6 Signal Perceived Urgency ………………………………………………………
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5.7 Signal Identification and Perceived Urgency …………………………………
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6.0 CONCLUSIONS ………………………………………………………………………….
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7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS………………………………………………………………….
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8.0 FUTURE WORK …………………………………………………………………………
26
9.0 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………..
28
APPENDIX 1: Spectrum Analysis of the Signals Tested …………………………………
30
NRC Contract: B4521
iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Signal Presentation Order on Each CD………………………………………….…
8
Table 2: Population Distribution of Canada and Study Sample…………………………… 12 Table 3: Results to the T-3 Signal for Each CD ……………………………………………. 13 Table 4: Number of Occupants who Confirmed Having Heard a Signal Before………… 14 Table 5: Number of Occupants who Correctly Identified Each Signal…………………… 16 Table 6: Wrong Identification of the Temporal-Three ……………………………………… 19 Table 7: Difference in Perceived Urgency between T-3 and Other Signals……………… 20 Table 8: Identification of any Signal as a Fire Alarm and Perceived Urgency …………. 21 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Gender and Age Distribution of the Study Sample………………….…………
12
Figure 2: Recall Percentage of Each Signal ……………………………….………………
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Figure 3: Percentage of Signals Identified .……..…………………………….……………
17
Figure 4: Recollection and Identification of the Temporal-Three…………………………
18
Figure 5: Percent of Each Signal Recalled and Identified Correctly…………………….
18
NRC Contract: B4521
v
Acknowledgements This project could not have been possible without the support of Mr. Arnold Garson, Vice President of Industry Affairs, Siemens Building Technologies Limited. Mr. Garson readily gave his support to conducting a study of the Temporal-Three signal and his enthusiasm for furthering the knowledge of fire alarms and life-safety was greatly appreciated. We would like to thank both him and his organization for their support and hope that we will collaborate on other productive projects in the future. We would also like to thank Mr. Mark Faubert and Mr. Bill Thistle, responsible for fire safety and security at the Ottawa International Airport, for allowing us to gather data at the airport. After passing the security check, the waiting area of the airport was an ideal location to ask people to participate in our study. As well, we would like to thank Stéphane Denis, Groupe d’Acoustique de l’Université de Montréal (GAUM), who created the three CDs that present the warning signals that were tested during the experiment. These tools were an essential part of our study. Mr. Denis was also responsible for the analysis of the acoustical characteristics of the warning sounds. We would also like to thank Dr. Russell Thomas, Director of the Fire Risk Management Program at the National Research Council Canada, for his guidance in the statistical analysis of our data. Finally we wish to thank our participants. These busy people graciously agreed to provide not only fascinating data by answering our survey, but also useful insights into our research through their astute comments. This work was jointly funded by Siemens Building Technologies Limited and the National Research Council Canada (NRC).
NRC Contract: B4521
vi
Executive Summary The 1995 National Building Code of Canada requires that fire alarm signals sound the Temporal-Three (T-3) pattern, as defined by the ISO 8201 “Acoustics – Audible Emergency Evacuation Signal”. This sound pattern has also been required by NFPA 72 since July 1996. It is intended that the T-3 pattern will become the standardized alarm signal heard around the world that will unequivocally mean “evacuate the building immediately”. Although new and refurbished buildings have, for the past 5 years, been equipped with this new signal, no formal public education has taken place to inform building users about the meaning and response expected from them when it sounds. In North America, discussions are ongoing regarding the necessity to develop a public education campaign on the subject of this new evacuation signal, and whether an automatic recorded message should follow the signal to prompt the public to evacuate. As a first step, we need to ascertain if the public already recognizes this sound as an evacuation signal. The objectives of this project were to assess the public’s recollection, identification and perceived urgency of the T-3. Data was collected through a field study. Six alarm signals were recorded on a CD: the T-3, a Car Horn, a Reverse or backup alarm, a fire alarm Bell, the Slow Whoop alarm, and an industrial warning Buzzer. The presentation orders of the signals were different on each of the three CDs used to collect data. Members of the public were approached in buildings such as shopping centers, office buildings, libraries and airports; they were then asked to listen through headphones to the different sounds. After each signal, the interviewer asked three questions: “Have you heard this sound before?”, “What do you think this sound means?” and finally, “How urgent do you feel this sound is on a scale from 1 to 10? 1 means the sound is not urgent at all and 10 means it is extremely urgent.” The first question tested recollection of the signal, the second tested the ability of the participant to correctly identify the signal, and the last question rated the perceived urgency of the signal. It was heavily emphasized to participants that the sounds heard on the CD were from in and around large buildings, such as the one where they were in at the time of the interview.
In total, 307 participants, representative of the Canadian population in terms of gender and age distribution, were interviewed for the study. Results showed a significant difference between how often participants said they could recall the various signals, Q(5,307)=288.15, p
