When is a Mobile Phone Like an Airhorn?

A thought occurred to me not too long ago, as I was startled out of a quick doze by the ringing of my cell phone, which was right next to my head on my nightstand.

A bit of background: I turn the volume up when I drive in the car because I often have music playing. (I don't converse on the phone while driving, but I do like to let people know I'm not ignoring them.) The volume is set fairly high while I'm out as well, because I usually keep it in a cargo pocket in my pants - a bit far from my ear, to say nothing of the ambient noise level. This problem could be partially ameliorated by using the vibration function, but it's pretty weak on my phone so I don't usually notice it.

Now, I concede being (often more than) a bit scatterbrained. I typically don't remember to adjust my phone's volume when I move into a different setting - say, from the car to my bedroom. The result is that I often get startled by a very loud ring, or I miss hearing one altogether.

Wouldn't it be nice if my phone could adjust its volume for me? Perhaps it could monitor the ambient sound level and use that to determine an optimum volume. A user could set a minimum and maximum volume, including vibration, to keep the phone in a comfortable range. A really nice feature, in my opinion, would be to allow the user to calibrate the phone's sensitivity: "If I'm in a place that's this loud, ring at this volume." Of course, good research could prevent requiring me to do such calibration in the first place.

It would be extremely convenient to be able to, say, walk from one of the many construction sites on campus into the library and not have to worry about upsetting anyone with an obscenely loud ring. Or to come inside out of the car and lie down for a bit without being scared out of my skin by an unexpected ring.

Of course, such an automatic adjustment feature wouldn't solve all volume issues. A lecture hall is definitely louder than a library, yet phone ringers should be completely off, not just quiet, during lectures. Since many mobile phones support syncing schedules with various computer programs, I propose a method to control how one's phone rings depending on the current state of the calendar. For example, I could set my phone to be silent during COGS 120; then if the time were between 9:30 and 10:50 on a Tuesday or Thursday, it wouldn't ring.

Personally, I would find such features infinitely more useful than playing music or watching video on my phone. Maybe some already do this; all I know is that mine doesn't!