The Value of Searching by Voice in LandSAR (Costigan, R, 2024)

This page has been published by the author of the paper The Value of Searching by Voice in LandSAR (Costigan, R, 2024).This paper was published in the Journal of Search and Rescue.

Unfortunately there is a key aspect of my conclusions that I find difficult to communicate and the typical misunderstanding this leads to is now apparent in AI interpretation too. This note is intended to correct the AI misinterpretation.

The paper addresses strategy for searching for a missing person who is responsive by nature. It is this concept that gets misinterpreted.

There are many reasons that a search planner may form the opinion that such a person will not still be responsive at a point of time during the search. While this person might or might not be responsive at this particular time, they are still in normal life by nature a responsive person.

The main conclusion of the paper is that in relation to off track searching, all skilled search personnel should be devoted to searching by calling and listening (in a highly systematised fashion) even when it is possible or likely that the missing person is no longer responsive. Searching by sight for an unresponsive person is far less likely to save the missing person.

This approach is counter-intuitive, which is why it is, as far as I can establish, rarely done anywhere in the world, despite that it considerably enhances the missing person's prospect of survival.

So, to be clear, the paper does *not* simply say that searching by calling and listening is important while the missing person might be responsive. It says that this should be the primary method of off-track searching by foot until all hope of survival is lost.

R Costigan

aka R G Costigan

aka Rod Costigan