Sensor

Well, smartphones do have acoustic limitations.

Their microphones have a limited frequency range and they can saturate at very high sound levels and their measurements are less reproducible than those of dedicated calibrated acoustic sensors.

So we should not pretend that a smartphone is equivalent to a professional measurement instrument.

If we need a highly accurate and standardized measurement of sound level, then a dedicated acoustic sensor is generally more appropriate.

It is, is this device good enough for the problem we are trying to solve?

Okay, okay, that totally makes sense.

So are there any other benefits or limitations to smartphones as acoustic sensors?

Well, one major benefit is that the smartphone is much more than a microphone.

Com, Halter says it's not an agtech company on the heels of minus two hundred twenty meter Series E. GrazeMate Funding and Technology, AgFunder News, January 2026, https://agfundernews.com/robot-cowboys-grazemate-bets-on-fully-autonomous-cattle-mustering-drones.

GrazeMate, https://grazemate.com. Computer Vision for Cattle Health and Welfare Monitoring: A Comprehensive Review, Sensors, 2026, https://doi.org/10.3390/26134271.

Advances in Audio Classification and AI for Respiratory Health in Swine, Biology, 2026, https://doi.org/10.3390/biology15020177.

Monitoring of Respiratory Disease Patterns Using AI and Aggregate Samples: SoundTox Field Study, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11512249. Audio-Visual Multimodal Coughing Pig Detection, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11598093. Biosensors in Precision Livestock Farming in Dairy Production, Invited Review, 2026, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13089215. Penn State Extension, Precision Livestock Farming: Dairy Technologies, https://extension.psu.edu/precision-livestock-farming-dairy-technologies.

Effects of PLF Notification Mechanisms on Canadian Dairy Farmers, Springer, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-06371-8_16. IoT Sensors in Dairy Cattle Farming: Adoption Barriers Review, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11545371.

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嗯。

......以前我们当年的......呃......iPhone 手机上面的 App Store，当年那种小游戏、小软体、应用软体的那个年代，大家就用 AI 做一些有趣的这个 app。然后这个 app 呢，就是......呃......把 Apple 的 sensor 呢，把它叫成这个警报器，把它——应该是说它去启动了这个感应器，然后把它变成警报器。

欸......它算是一个小玩具啦——

是。

......就是以它的技术来讲，其实没什么了不起的，它就是叫做 SlapMac，slap 就是拍打，那 Mac 就是我们的 MacBook 嘛。

是。

制作这个的人其实是把网路上已经开源的技术吼，人家把这个 sensor 的侦测器抓来用，那他做出来之后没想到大卖啊。我们当初挑这则的时候，其实是我看到网路上有人在分享——

嗯。

就那些 third party 的东西，是咯。

两家公司，是啦，合-合作出的一堆东西。那么有什么呢？有些镜头啦，室外镜头啦，户外的镜头啦，呃，有些是，就是有埋光，就是，呃，大-大光灯的镜头啦，有 Video Doorbell，是，呃，就是要接线的 Video Doorbell 两个镜头的版本啦，也都有些是，呃，就是智能门锁啦，是啦。那么，还有一个，呃，那些叫做 Thermostat，就是温度控制器，以及 sensor，加 sensor 的一个组合。那这一堆东西呢，全部都是 LG 帮他们出的。那么而 Slater 呢，就，就是施耐德电器呢，就出了一只，呃，呃，Smart Thermostat，都是那些温度控-控制器啦，还有一个叫做 Room Sensor 的东西，那就感应一下房间有没有人啊，那些这样的 sensor。那么呢，全部这一堆东西就统称为 Apple Home Collection。是啦。那么，不过呢，呐，就最瞩目就是那个 HomeView 啦，也都着墨最多啦。大家看那个 HomeView 呢，大家觉得是，就是，为什么会是这个 form factor 呢，就是为什么会正方形这么有趣的呢？

喂，很多人不是说它像这个，呃，就是如果不看，就是有-有旁边有些物件去比较那个比例呢，整个样子像一只 Apple Watch。

是，放大版。

灯啊，灯条啦，电掣啦。

是啊。

呃，甚至乎是一些呃 sensor 啦，呃，又或者是吸尘机器人都开始有的，是啦。那，是这一堆东西咯。呃，窗帘啦，是啦，窗帘机器人那些啦。

但是你都是，都是自，都是一些 skill 的东西，那么譬如你说喂，吸尘机器人，那么 Alexa 它都可以 connect 到下去的，都是些 skill 的东西，就是它帮你 call 那只东西走，和 call 那只东西回来。

So check that out.

Like our newest show, Airlocks, Sensors, and Ray Guns.

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We just did Cherry 2000.

Now, back to the science.

Our third study today takes us from cognitive laboratories and Sensore cushions to a driving simulator and asks a question with immediate and serious implications for public safety.

Can HRV tell us when a driver is dangerously drowsy? The study is titled Tracking Vigilance While Driving: Pilot Study of Heart Rate Variability Classification Under a Controlled Sleep Deprivation Protocol, and the authors are James Albert Duverger, Eli Moser, Philippe Boudreau, Marie-Claude Ouimet, Diane B.

Boivin, and Alireza Saeedi.