YACKER TRACKER BLOG
We are excited to share some of the best Yacker Tracker blog posts over the last few years!
OSHA Has a Lot to Say about Noise!
OSHA, which is under the United States Department of Labor and stands for Occupational Safety and Health Administration, takes great interest in occupational noise exposure. You don’t see articles about it online very often, or on the local or national news, but twenty-two million workers are exposed to potentially damaging noise at work each year. Last year, U.S. business paid more than $1.5 million in penalties for not protecting workers from noise. To put it in even larger numbers, an estimated $242 million is spent annually on workers' compensation for hearing loss disability.
If you suspect that your own workplace is too noisy, here are some clues that you’re right. From the OSHA website:
- You hear ringing or humming in your ears when you leave work.
- You have to shout to be heard by a coworker an arm's length away.
- You experience temporary hearing loss when leaving work.
If you’re reading this, chances are you don’t work in an environment where machinery and heavy equipment are involved. Those situations require other solutions to the problems. But regardless of your home or work situation, noise controls are the first things you can implement against excessive noise exposure. With the reduction of even a few decibels, danger to your hearing is reduced and communication is improved.
This is exactly when you’ll want a Yacker Tracker. You set the acceptable decibel level before the voice or siren go off, and if you like, you can set your unit to be only visual in situations where people are hearing-impaired, or where you require complete silence. Maybe backstage at a play? Please Take a Look to see just how it works.
We’re pleased to offer two versions of the Yacker Tracker. We also have a Deluxe model. Please See our Products to decide which one is right for you and your needs. For More Information just click and you can read our Help and FAQ page. There is also a page on our site for you to contact us directly.
Always do the best you can to save your hearing. And thank you for making us part of it. If you have some stories to share, we’d love to hear them. Enjoy your quieter and more peaceful life!
Please see our Yacker Trackers to choose the one that’s right for you and your work environment. If you think about the unwanted noise in your daily life, you will probably thing of other uses for a Yacker Tracker. We have thought of some of them, too. Yacker Tracker Uses will take you to our Idea Page. If you click on our Blog you will see even more ideas. (We never stop thinking about you!)
We hope that we can be of help. Everyone is entitled to some peace of mind. And that’s usually accomplished in a quieter setting.
To your health!
It's Getting Really Dangerous out there!
According to NBC News, preliminary estimates from the National Safety Council indicate motor vehicle deaths were 9 percent higher through the first six months of 2016 than in 2015, and 18 percent higher than two years ago at the six month mark. This is the largest year-over-year percent increase in 50 years. An estimated 19,100 people have been killed on U.S. roads since January – enough to fill 382 school buses – and 2.2 million were seriously injured. The total estimated cost of these deaths and injuries is $205 billion. But if you have your children on that school bus, or in your own van or motorhome, and maybe someone else’s children are with you, you know that it’s not the monetary cost that matters. It’s the lives. There is nothing more precious.
There are many factors that contribute to these frightening and concerning statistics, and driver distraction is one of them. Drivers texting and talking on their cells, eating, even putting on makeup. We’re sure you’ve seen them. One news report showed a woman steering with her feet while she ate and texted. Holy mackerel. Can you imagine? And how safe is it for anyone, driving any kind of vehicle, with those people on the road?
Your young passengers will quickly get the message that loud noises while in a moving vehicle are not okay. It’s a small investment to make to keep everyone safe on the streets and highways.
You can decide together which noise level is acceptable. Make them part of the experience and teach them safe driving habits at the same time. Even though they’re kids, they might just thank you when you get them to where they’re going in one piece. Even if they don’t, the other parents will. And your local schools might throw you a parade.
A Quieter Day Care
Don’t you just love children? They fill your heart and your soul. They bring you joy and almost more smiles than anyone is entitled to. Those are probably just a few of the reasons that you either own a day care facility or work in one. You might have your own business at your home, or you might work for a corporation dealing with the children of employees. You might be part of an organization that takes care of children after school. In any of these situations the kids you work with can be anywhere from infant age up to mid-teens. Whether you deal with two or two hundred children on a daily basis, you certainly know how much attention and concentration and good will it takes!
Amidst all of the activities and eating and naps and lessons, does just the sound of the room ever get to be too much for you? Do you ever feel as though you’re not interacting with normal children but with children raised by wolves? You’re not alone. And we have just what you need!
A Yacker Tracker will tell children of all ages, leaving out the infants, when noise is too much noise. You set the level that is acceptable, and when the noise in the room exceeds that, the Yacker Tracker changes color and the siren/speaker will come on. Learning how to control themselves is a plus of day care. You teach and show kids not to kick each other, or pull each other’s hair, or eat someone else’s lunch. You teach them how to share and how to be kind and how to play together. The Yacker Tracker is another piece of the puzzle. Kids making noise is a normal part of life. You’re reaching for an aspirin every hour is not.
Once kids learn to control their “inside” and “outside” voices you may be surprised by the gratitude that their parents genuinely feel. And a lack of ear-splitting noise will make whatever day care you work in a happier place.
Please See our Products and select the one that’s right for you! We’d be delighted to be part of making your day as calm and productive as possible.
Curb Residential and Party Noise
You are no doubt familiar with Airbnb by now. It’s a worldwide company that deals with homeowners renting out their homes for short-term rentals. (There are a few other companies in this business now as well, but Airbnb is the most well-known.) It’s appealing on many counts, but more and more reports are surfacing publicly about the damage, both perceived and real, that the short-term renters are responsible for. One of the biggest complaints, lodged by neighbors and neighborhoods of the rentals, is noise.
It’s normal to want to go on vacation and party. Kick off your shoes and have a great time. But frequently the kinds of parties you might have in a short-term rental aren’t the same as the ones you’d have in your own home. In your own home you know your neighbors and you probably don’t want to disturb them until the wee hours of the morning with your revelry. You might make them angry and they might even call the cops! And this could easily affect your relationship, which up until now has been pretty good. In a short-term rental you have no idea who is next door or down the street. And you’re not staying for that long, so..... whatever.
For both the owners and the short-term renters to make this work, we suggest installing at least one Yacker Tracker in the rentals. Set to an appropriate noise level for the neighborhood, and it will serve as a gentle reminder about when normal noise is too much noise. See if you can put the use of the Yacker Tracker(s) into your rental agreement. This might make some people think twice about renting, but they’re really not the people you want anyway. You want responsible renters, who will respect your property and its surroundings.
It will serve you well to be discerning in whom you rent to. While Airbnb can be a great way to generate some added income, you don’t want it to cause any problems or cause anyone to try to stop you from taking advantage of it. Yacker Tracker will help smooth the way for all of you to make the best of this experience!
Noise is A Distraction!
Have you ever sat at your desk at work and heard someone in the next cubicle or at the next desk talking loudly on the phone or to another co-worker? Have you ever been to a board meeting and the person who always talks at the top of his or her lungs is about to take center stage? How about at a committee or association meeting? The person with the decibel-blasting voice has a hand up and you can’t help but cringe in advance. If only it weren’t impolite to say “shhhh” or “oh, please” in these situations. But as a person of great civility, you know that you can’t. So what to do? Install a Yacker Tracker!
Noise is a great distraction when you’re trying to get work done, or to understand something or even to keep a thought in your head. We’re talking about intrusive noise. You can’t help the sound of a garbage truck, or a fight next door, or a sonic boom. But it’s common sense to control the noise that you can. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, noise also affects people’s health by increasing general stress levels and aggravating stress-related conditions such as high blood pressure, coronary disease, peptic ulcers and migraine headaches. Continued exposure only makes it worse. You don’t get used to it. And on top of that, stress resulting from unwanted noise may decrease higher brain function, impairing learning and memory. All of which are very important to hang on to when you’re in a business or any setting.
When you install a Yacker Tracker in a meeting room you won’t offend anyone, and you might well be bringing relief to many others like yourself. When ideas and emotions are vented in public it seems only normal that voices would rise. Especially over divisive or even new ideas. When the yellow light on the Yacker Tracker goes on it’s a gentle reminder to the speaker that the approved sound level is about to be broached. When you install one in your office (if you’re the boss, go for it. If you’re not, ask first!) you might sense the calm that settles in. No one will want to hear the siren go off when the light turns red, so it’s a perfect tool for keeping things under control. You’ll be surprised at how much more effective it is to accomplish goals when courtesy reigns!
If you have any questions or comments, please contact us and tell us all about it. Send us a picture or video and we will post it!
The DEMAND and uses for Yacker Tracker is Growing!
Users of Yacker Trackers are growing, and in ways we never thought. Yacker Tracker started out as being a simple tool to help teachers gain noise control in their classrooms. Yacker Tracker is now sold in almost every country in the world and used in such imaginative ways, some frankly, never expected. Exciting!
In schools they've had great success with thousands of classrooms using them to monitor sound, but school employees are an imaginative lot. For example, schools for the deaf are using them as a visual reminder to students and school cafeterias are using them for group noise control. Speech teachers and theatrical companies are using them to measure projection and even Toast Masters have used them for both projection and length of speech as well.
Of course it's been well known that hospitals are using them not only in their nurse’s stations and waiting rooms, but did you also know that they are being used in their operating rooms as well?
Business offices have started to use them to quiet overly noisy workers. Railroad lines are using them to test the effects of noise on certain towns and housing tracks. Some city council chambers have used them to monitor the length of speaker's presentations and Trader Joe's have used them as a decoration for themes in their stores.
How will you use your Yacker Tracker? Set your imagination free and be sure to let us know in what ways you use the Yacker Tracker. And, if you'd like to join in and let us know you have used Yacker Tracker in some innovative and/or unusual ways you use it, please contact us and tell us all about it. Send us a picture and we will post it!!
Yacker Tracker featured in Chico Enterprise-Record!
Did you know that the Yacker Tracker was featured in a newspaper in Chico, California? Learn a little bit more about the Yacker Tracker, its success in the classroom and a little bit about Fran in this article.
CHICO – The stop light turned red Friday after recess, setting off the Yacker Tracker siren in a first-grade classroom.
The 6- and 7-year-old students at Marigold School knew that meant they were being too loud. But they didn't know a Chico woman invented the machine.
Teacher Brian Holderman said he first saw the Yacker Tracker in a colleague's classroom and learned that a friend, Fran Rebello, conceptualized, designed and sold the device. So he called her, got one and started using it in his classroom about five years ago.
"I think first-graders forget how to whisper," Holderman said.
The machine is shaped like a stop light, with lights that illuminate at an OK noise level of green, somewhat noisy at yellow and too loud for red, which sets off a warning. The decibel level can be adjusted depending on desired noise level.
"It puts the students in control," Rebello said. "It's self-monitored. So the teacher isn't always telling them to be quiet.”
Read the full article at Local inventor catches eyes, ears, national attention.
Original - By KATY SWEENY - ChicoER
What teachers are saying about the Yacker Tracker
"This Yacker Tracker is not being used as a toy but as a tool in assisting classroom management in a kindergarten classroom. It does everything I had hoped it would. When the red light goes off and the siren sounds because the classroom is too loud, I don't have to say a thing. I would suggest that some kind of consequence be associated with it, however. After keeping it for a week for the children to get used to, I added a consequence for each time the siren went off. If there is no consequence, it can become a toy and the children will intentionally speak loudly to get it to go off (especially when the siren is not on). I've found it a great help and no longer have to have it on all the time."
-D. Laramie
"This is really a great device for monitoring noise in any environment. We are using it in a hospital setting to inform staff and visitors when the noise level is too high. It is big enough to be seen and small enough to move around. There is no argument about what is too loud and it becomes the nagging nanny instead of some concerned person.
In conclusion, if you need to control noise levels and constant reminders don't seem to work, give this thing a try. It doesn't care if you give it a dirty look, it still flashes red and it won't go away."
-Marilyn Janis Anderson
"The class loves the traffic light! They are always asking to have it on. This lets the children monitor their own noise level. It keeps me (the teacher) from saying "I think you are too loud" and worrying that maybe I am in a glunky mood and a little more sensitive that day. Now it is the traffic light that lets the kids know they are too loud. They know that the yellow is a warning. If it goes to red they lose some recess time. We brought this light up to the lunch room and all the teachers couldn't believe how quiet the lunch room was. Both the young eaters and the older grades were much more aware of their own noise. I recommend it to schools!"
-jlr
"The Yakker Trakker takes the work out of quieting a classroom. I teach high school math. When I first turned the machine on I thought the siren was too soft but the kids absolutely hate it. If you set it to 50 or 60 decibels it does go off with even a slight bit of noise. I use this mode for a penalty. If the kids are being loud I set it to 60 for 2 minutes. The yakker trakker will go off a lot in those two minutes but you will be shocked at how quiet your class becomes after those 2 minutes. Classroom talking is definitely a snowball effect. If you stop the momentum with the yakker trakker it will soon die out. I do wish they made a 65 dB level because I find that 60 is too sensitive and 70 is not sensitive enough. Other than that I must say that I LOVE the yakker trakker. It has really changed my life!!! I no longer find myself yelling at my period 5 class. If they are talking all I have to do is start tracking the yacking. Thanks Yakker Trakker."
Yacker Tracker: Part of Classroom Control Video
This teacher shot this video for her students. She incorporates the Deluxe Yacker Tracker as part of a behavior management program, including a reward in 2013. How do you use your Yacker Tracker?
Contact us with any question you might have as we would love to hear from you!
And, if you'd like to join in and add your testimonial about how using the Yacker Tracker has helped you, or some innovative and/or unusual ways you use it, please contact us and tell us all about it.
We would like to hear from you!
We believe Yacker Tracker has become a part of many people's daily lives and touch so many over the years. Now we'd like to hear from you. Please share your story with us about how Yacker Tracker has helped you. Whether you've used it in a unique way or not, we want you to share your success story with us. Please go to the contact form on our website to post your Testimonial or post below! We will post it on the Yacker Tracker Blog and on the Testimonials page on the Yacker Tracker website.
Here’s a Testimonial from a few years back…
“Hello, I just wanted to let you know that we are a family of 9 with 7 adopted children. Most of them have ADHD, ADD, ODD, PTSD, and attachment issues. One of my children screams every night before bed, another cries like an infant if angry and another just can't control there noise levels. The Yacker Tracker had made everyone in the home aware of the noise they each make and has helped them to gain additional control. I thought you should know that a family can use this too. :) Thank You”
-Janelle -Mom
Again, if you'd like to join in and add your testimonial about how using the Yacker Tracker has helped you, or some innovative and/or unusual ways you use it, please use the Contact Form on our website and tell us all about it!
A Brief History of the Yacker Tracker
It was one of the toughest courses the university had for its 5th year graduate students. The course, for teaching majors, was Classroom Management, and is arguably one of the toughest tasks that teachers face: techniques of keeping your classroom calm and quiet for appropriate learning environments.
The year was 1999 and Fran Rebello, then a teacher at the university, came up with a rather ingenious idea, an invention known as TAG, short for The Attention-Getter. When she combined that with another teacher who was using a sound meter, the original Yacker Tracker was born.
Then in 2001, the Yacker Tracker won the new product ‘Best of Show’ award from the NSSEA (National School Supply and Equipment Association)
In 2003, Fran introduced the Deluxe Yacker Tracker featuring a handy remote control.
A few years later in 2011, the Yacker Tracker was redesigned to be more efficient, featuring the phrase “Quiet Please” in 7 languages due in large part to the Yacker Tracker’s success with hospitals and medical offices, and also partially due to new OSHA requirements.
2012 – Testimonial
“Your contribution to our school has impacted the behavior of over 500 students. The Yacker Tracker has helped give the students a better self-monitoring tool during lunch time. Students are able to see the lights go off when they are getting too loud and then they quiet down. There is a reward system in place for when the students do well and don't trigger the red light to go off too many times. The primary grades have been extremely successful since the implementation of the Yacker Tracker and continue to do well. The intermediate grades are still getting used to the Yacker Tracker. Thank you so much for supporting our cause. Because of you, our students are eating lunch and are better prepared for the classroom.”
With gratitude,
-Ms. Warrington
Then in 2013, the Yacker Tracker was used in a television documentary on how loud train whistles were at different distances, in other words, just how many miles away a person could hear train whistles and how loud they were at those distances.
In 2015, the Yacker Tracker was included in the book Mastering Leadership: A Vital Resource for Health Care Organizations, as a tool to measure and self-monitor noise levels in hospital waiting rooms, nurses stations, and surgery rooms.