Why is it so hard to locate an alarmed PASS Device?
Most firefighters have experienced the difficulty of locating an alarmed PASS Device. Remember that one of the purposes of a PASS Device is to let other firefighters know that a firefighter is in trouble. Since it is so loud, the PASS Device is well suited to letting others know of the alarm, but it is that loud volume, however, that creates the problem. A person’s ear is designed to listen everywhere. This is a trait that has evolved over the years probably to warn of the presence of a predator. Luckily, humans have two ears, and that helps alleviate the problem. There are two tricks that we can play with our ears: 1) they can tell us which ear hears a sound first, and 2) which ear hears a louder volume. We can distinguish between the volume each ear hears, and get a rough idea of the direction of a sound. However, our ears can only hear to certain volumes before this ability disappears. Unfortunately, the volume of a PASS Device is well above that level. This is why it is easier to k
