Have any of you invited those with sensory issues to visit your layout? If so did you do anything special to accomodate them.
My son very often complain my O-Gauge layout is too loud for him. Even my N Scale layut can be quite a cacaphony with multiple sound-equiped locomotive running.
So, other than muting the sound, what else can we do? In addition to my son who doesn’tlike loud noise, we have friends with a special needs child.
Maybe narrow it down to leaving on the sound to the loco that running, and not every loco sitting around the lay out.
I even find that a distraction. I’ve tried to watch some videos, but the guy has 15 locos on the lay out, all sitting running, and only 1 train running. it’s just a distracting noise
Even on the prototype, if your near a yard, and multiple locos are idling, you don’t hear them, but of course in our small world we need to hear them because it “sounds cool”.
Of course, I’m not a huge advocate of sound anyway, I have a couple locos with it, but the few times they are sitting, and not pulling a train, the sound is off.
Mike.
LION does not use sound equiped… : )
Layout of LION makes all of the loud prototypical noises all on its own.
Subways are noisy places.
LION Liques the quiet, That’s why him listens to Rush Limbauch on the radion.
Nice and quiet. Turn on Public Radio and they got all of that loud classickal stuff.
ROARING
I would recommend you adjust the CVs on your locomotives to lower the sound volume. JMRI could be a big help with this. It could be a bit of a project but I doubt you’ll regret it. From the factory most locos are very loud, even for those who like noise.
Remember the sound for the locomotive really shouldn’t be heard well by people who aren’t very close to it. On the real railroad you don’t hear the train in the next Rowan away and ideally you shouldn’t hear it on you model either. Of course that is unlikely because would like to hear our locos well enough when we are close and you’ll still likely hear them a few feet away.
Anyway the point is CVs on your decoders can be changed to make the volume lower. That is the best solution. Also turning off the sound of parked locomotives is not a bad idea.
There are sound deadening headphones - I sometimes see folks on airplanes with them. Much much cheaper are packages of simple earplugs that you can buy at any hardware store and perhaps also at drug stores. They take the sharp edge off of loud noise (and are not a bad idea to have in the workshop anyway).
“Special needs child” covers so many issues that it is hard to advise. I would say that if the issue is blindness or near blindness and the child wants to touch the trains, my layout and its scenery and structures are really not set up to host such a child. I’d get out the old Lionel set for that child. Same for a child with a developmental disability such that they are certain to want to touch the trains.
Dave Nelson
I havent had many visitors and when I did, they weren’t interested in trains. But in the rare instance described above, I’d think the parent or person with this disability would be prepared for noise issues based on passed experience.
TheTsituation described bybthe OP is likely unusual. Expecting layout owners to be prepared for various special needs guests which are hard to imagine seems unrealistic. So it seems best for those with the issue to carry noise cancelling headphones.
Yes I use dcc. I also have one sound equiped loco. I dont run it hardly ever, sound is too annoying and I find it too distracting and tinney. Same at the club, there are guys who run several engines with the sound on. Very poor sound at best. I turn my hearing aids off. But to the op which is more important your sons enjoyment or the sound on your choo choos?
I too run DCC without sound decoders. The cost for one is way too high now. Although I do like the sound.
As a spouse of a special ed teacher, there are multiple things to address. Primarily youare helping them in overcoming their fears. Some are afraid of sudden movements while others sound. Perhaps informing visitors of what’s about to hapeen can reduce their fears. Surprising them with things might increase their anxiety levels.
One time when I was one of the operators on the Boothbay Railway Village layout, a family came in with a son who was bilnd. There was not much activity, so the other volunteer ran the trains. I got out a locomotive, a boxcar and a vehicle and let the boy hold them and feel them, the only way he could “see” what our layout was about.
We often have an autistic group home visit. The young men like to see the trains go, but some of them are bothered by the noise; we try to mute the sound equipped lcoos, or at least stop blowing the whistles.
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I have a younger Nephew with Autism. He reacts badly to the sound of metal wheels rolling on metal rails. It is a trigger for him.
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The noise cancelling headphones have allowed him to enjoy my previous layout.
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-Kevin
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Just make sure they are complete noise canceling headphones. My friend has some very top quality active shooting headphones which are absolutely amazing - you can clearly converse with other people but the moment the bullet first all you hear is a very muffled pop, no more than opening a bottle of soada, and they you CLEARLY hear the tink of the brass hitting the ground. One problem - across the river that runs along the edge of the club he belongs to is a NS branch to somewhere. Of course I was lucky enough to be there, and we were between shoots, and a train came through. Excellent view, it’s not far away, and slightly higher up the side of a hill than where we were standing. But I literally ripped the headphones off - the flange squeal did not trigger the noise cancellation and in fact was HIGHLY AMPLIFIED. Ouch.
As for sound locos - turn them down! Everyone runs them so loud - why? Just because they usually come out of the box at full volume doesn’t mean you have to leave them there. If the other side of the room is supposed to be miles away - you shouldn’t hear the locos over there. The quality of the sound goes way up when the volume is reduced, too. The top brands do not have tinny sound - Tsunami’s diesel horns are the one main exception.
–Randy
The volume they come out of the box is ridiculous! And with our compress railroads you hear them on the other side of railroad! And when you reset them due to other issues, they go back to full volume! Manufacturers really need to change this!