Shockingly, an FDA survey revealed that problems with medical device sounds have been implicated in hundreds of deaths each year.  Although the technology within these life-saving devices has advanced rapidly in recent decades, curiously they seem to use the same simplistic sounds employed in early electronic devices. Today, barriers to improving the sounds are no longer technical, but merely historical. Using insights gleaned from musical sounds, my team designs better auditory alerts that can be used to improve hospital medical devices – a multi-billion dollar industry. In a series of experiments we have shown these approaches can increase their efficacy, which is key to improving surgical outcomes, reducing physician burnout, and shortening hospital stays by aiding patient recovery. For more information, visit Dr. Schutz’s recent TEDx talk Death By Beep, available at www.maplelab.net/ted.

Bio de Michael Schutz :

Michael Schutz is Associate Professor of Music Cognition/Percussion in the McMaster University School of the Arts. Drawing on his interdisciplinary training in music, psychology, and computer science, he directs the MAPLE Lab researching Music, Acoustics, Perception, and LEarning (www.maplelab.net). Designated a « University Scholar » in recognition of his innovative merging of music performance and perception, he has received the Ontario Early Researcher Award, and his research has been funded by SSHRC, NSERC, CFI, and the National Institutes of Health (US). Complementing his research on music, he also remains active as a percussionist, conducting the McMaster Percussion Ensemble, performing recitals, and serving on faculty at the Honors Music Institute in Pennsylvania. He is active in the Percussive Arts Society, having performed and or spoken at several of their annual conventions-most recently about his novel study of Steve Reich’s “Drumming.” Dr. Schutz received the 2019 Alumni Award from the Penn State School of Music, and is an artist/endorser for Innovative Percussion and Sabian Cymbals.