In 2017, a 19-year-old Indian girl crossed the tracks to the platform, because she was wearing headphones to call, did not hear the train when it entered the station, the train drove directly from her body, and miraculously, she was only slightly injured.
People should wear less headphones on the street, it is not safe, although we know this truth, but the popularity of noise-canceling headphones has expanded this risk factor.
In 2021, a woman in Singapore was crushed to death when she was wearing noise-canceling headphones in both ears and did not hear the sound of trees falling.
Noise-canceling headphones, as the name suggests, filter out the ambient noise you can hear. The principle is not complicated - the headphones first actively capture the noise in the environment, and after the chip analysis and processing, they generate a sound wave that is inverted from the noise through the circuit to neutralize, so that you only hear the pleasant music in the headphones.
But when many people enjoy the effect of "the whole world is immediately clean" brought by noise-canceling headphones, they forget the original design of noise-canceling headphones - its best place to use is on noisy transportation such as airplanes and high-speed trains, rather than letting you wear them to shop.
How dangerous is this? Curiosity Lab did a simple and crude experiment - a car drove towards an experimenter blindfolded and wearing noise-canceling headphones, how far away could the car be heard?
Experimental site: An outdoor parking lot in the north of Hangzhou City, where there is very little parking, and the whole environment is much quieter than along the street.
Experimental props: a gasoline car, a pure electric car, Airpod Pro noise-canceling headphones.
Experimental method: Experimenter A wears noise-canceling headphones and stands blindfolded at the end; Experimenter B simulates a distracted driver and does not make any stops to drive past; if Experimenter A hears the sound of a car coming by, immediately wave the red cloth to signal, and then measure the distance between him and the car.
In addition, due to the actual situation of the parking lot, our experimental speed was maintained at more than 30 kilometers.
Gasoline car first round: the experimenter blindfolded without wearing noise-canceling headphones.
The car did not drive far, and the experimenter with good hearing lived up to expectations, and immediately heard the sound of the wheels rubbing against the cement floor and waved a red cloth.
After ranging, the distance between the car and the experimenter is 15 meters.
Gasoline car second round: the experimenter blindfolded wearing noise-canceling headphones to play music, but did not turn on the noise reduction function.
The music interferes with the experimenter's hearing, and when the experimenter lifts the red cloth, the distance between the two is 7 meters.
Gasoline Car Third Wheel: The experimenter blindfolded to turn on the noise reduction function of the headphones while playing music
This is one of the most dangerous ways, and the results of the experiment are surprising.
After the car drove past the finish line, the experimenter waved the red cloth.
The experimenter said: Before, he didn't hear the sound of the car coming, but after the car drove past, he felt a little movement, "feeling more like the wind."
Curious Jun would like to say that if this situation actually happened, it would be a tragic traffic accident!
Gasoline car fourth wheel: test the transparency mode in the noise-canceling headphones; after changing to the transparent mode, the noise-canceling headphones allow external sounds to enter the headphones, you can hear the ambient sounds, and theoretically you can communicate with the people around you without taking off the headphones.
The ranging result this time was 5 meters, which was a little worse than the noise reduction in the second round. As for whether the distance of 5 meters between people and cars is safe enough, several experimenters have argued, some say that it is enough to react, some say that it is too late, may be confused at that time, everyone said?
The noise of gasoline cars is still relatively large, compared to the increasingly popular pure electric cars with almost no sound, what will be the result?
Pure tram first round: the old rule is still not to wear headphones.
The experimenter heard the "buzzing" sound of the motor 9 meters away, waved the red cloth, this result is 6 meters less than the 15 meters of the oil car, and the tram is indeed much quieter than the oil car.
Pure tram second round: play music, do not start noise reduction.
The distance measurement performance this time is 4 meters, if the distance of 7 meters of gasoline vehicles can still give pedestrians time to react, the distance of 4 meters of trams is already more dangerous for pedestrians.
Pure tram third wheel: turn on noise cancellation and play music.
The experimenter completely lost the perception of the tram, the tram stopped to the side or could not find it, and after honking the horn, he reacted.
Pure tram fourth wheel: permeable mode
The ranging score is 4 meters, which is similar to the second time without noise reduction.
Experimental conclusion: Airpod Pro noise reduction headphones in the case of turning on the noise reduction function, playing music, whether it is a tram or a gas car, the experimenter did not hear the speed of more than 30 kilometers per hour of the vehicle driving sound.
Final reminder: the correct place to use noise-canceling headphones is in a safe place such as indoors, subways, planes, etc., whether it is walking, cycling, or driving a car, do not open this function on the street.
Even if you don't drive noise reduction, although there are still 4 meters and 7 meters of reaction distance from the results of this test, this experiment was carried out in a relatively quiet parking lot, and the experimenter was fully focused on looking for the sound of the car, if you are leisurely listening to music on the noisy road, the reaction time left for you will be greatly shortened.
In a word: there are thousands of roads, safety is the first, and headphones are still not used on the road.
Orange Pole Interactive City Express reporter Zheng Yong Shi Deyong Field