SOUND IN PREVENTION OF CHILD ELECTRICAL INJURIES

LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE: DETERMINE EFFECTIVE AND SAFE AVERSIVE SOUND STIMULUS WHICH REPELS CHILDREN AND ALERTS PARENTS IN ORDER TO MINIMIZE CHILD INJURY FROM ELECTRICAL HAZARDS. OURTOUCH ACTIVATED, SOUND EMITTING PLUG ADAPTER AND NIGHTLIGHT PROTOTYPES ARE FIRST IN A SERIES OF COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS. OTHERS ARE CONTACT OR PROXIMITY ACTIVATED ELECTRICAL PLUGS/CORDS USING FLEXIBLE ELECTRONIC CHIPBOARDS FOR SOUND EMISSION. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE PHASE I: 1) DEVELOP TECHNIQUES, ACOUSTICAL PARAMETERS, AND CLINICAL TRIAL TO ASSESS EFFECTIVENESS OF ABOVE SOUND STIMULUS BASED ON INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM RECENT PILOT STUDY; 2) DETERMINE (SOUND) APPLICABILITY TO OTHER ELECTRICAL/NON-ELECTRICAL SAFETY PROTOTYPE DEVICES UNDER DEVELOPMENT BASED ON PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM 1; 3) CLINICAL TRIALS WILL BE CONDUCTED ON 30 CHILDREN. RESPONSES TO AUDITORY STIMULI WILL BE RECORDED VIA VIDEO-TAPE AND ASSESSED. EMPLOY RATING SCALE MEASURING AVERSIVENESS TO CHILD VIA VIDEO TAPEDBEHAVIOR AND DEVELOP PARENT ALERTNESS SCALE. A FIVE SOUND RANDOM SEQUENCE OF TEN TRIALS AT TWO INTENSITY LEVELS REPEATED ONCE WILL BE PRESENTED. DATA ANALYSIS USING REPEATED MEASURES ANOVA WILL DEFINE ACOUSTIC PARAMETERS FOR PHASE II AND SUBSEQUENT INCORPORATION IN ELECTRICAL SAFETY DEVICES. BENEFITS: 1) MINIMIZE ELECTRICAL INJURIES/DISFIGURATION/DEATHS IN CHILDREN; 2) DECREASE FAMILY STRESS; 3) DISPLACE MEDICAL CARE COSTS AND TIME TO BEDEVOTED TO OTHER ILLNESSES.