hobby gone full circle

[wkhanna]

it seems my hobby has gone full circle as now i am part of the engineering team tasked with developing the design requirements as related to our robotic medical device product's audible interface from the standpoint of human factors & usability, all the while meeting mandatory FDA requirements.

(btw, one path i am advocating is developing our own in-house designed digital sound generation system :W)

our GUI (graphical user interface, aka touch screen) currently uses only the OEM speaker on the GUI monitor.
first task is to establish benchmark performance for the current models in use & those being considered for future product.

initial sandbox (rough) measurements were made using my Radio Shack SPL meter. :B

i just ordered a miniDSP UMIK-1 calibrated mic & was going to use REW to do some deeper analysis.

we will be looking at sampling ambient Operating Room SPL, GUI monitor SPL & frequency profiles.
human factors such as individual human hearing variation & specific frequencies that are commonly recognizable & generate specific emotional responses will also be investigated.
also, room placement & directional data will be accumulated.

this is new ground for me afa using REW or any other FFT software for audio signal analysis, so any & all input from those of you who are experienced in room & driver measurements will be greatly appreciated.

[TEK]

Not much help from me, but just have to say: That's just so cool!

[JonMarsh]

Bill, that is so cool- almost as cool, heck, maybe cooler, then when it looked like I would be leading a Class D power reference design group at work. (manager blew it, didn't line up support with VP, and then he also brought in an absolute ignorant idiot to handle the marketing end and management. I got Lucy'd (think Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football)

[wkhanna]

i will also be using the mike to do accelerated life cycle failure analysis of mechanical systems.

the sound stuff makes as it wears & fails changes over its usable life.
we should be able to determine the condition of various mechanical systems based on spectrum analysis.

[Paul K.]

Reminds me of my 30+year career in medical devices in both engineering/design but mostly Regulatory Affairs & Quality Assurance, in that most of the problems concerned with meeting FDA requirements (and similar world-wide regulations) were originated/caused by marketing and sales people as nothing seemed to get into their thick skulls other than doing whatever it took, even if it was illegal, so to speak, to make a sale.
Paul

Bill, that is so cool- almost as cool, heck, maybe cooler, then when it looked like I would be leading a Class D power reference design group at work. (manager blew it, didn't line up support with VP, and then he also brought in an absolute ignorant idiot to handle the marketing end and management. I got Lucy'd (think Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football)

[scottvalentin]

That does sound like a very interesting line of study! I (fingers crossed) had a UMIK-1 on the Christmas/birthday list, so I will be practicing with measurements on my Tarkus build in the new year (using REW). So I will share along the way! If the Christmas gift card cash is enough, I will also order a MiniDSP to start playing with!

Jon, I was wondering what had happened to that Class D project! That is a shame as it sounded very interesting (I didn't understand much of it!) and was looking forward to following your updates.

[wkhanna]

...... I got Lucy'd .....

ha....it is V early in this project, anything could (& most likely will) happen along its development path....

at least i get the equipment (aka toys) to use on other projects........