Vehicle: Car: Reversing
Eine Kleine Truckmusik   (+2)  [vote for, against]
Nicer sounding beeps when trucks back up

Instead of "Beeeeeep! Beeeeeeep! Beeeeeep!" all on the same pitch, make each beep a random note from the C-Major scale. Who knows, there might even be a tune in there somewhere.
-- phundug, Jul 23 2003

Arranged for Scandia, Iveco and Volvo http://www.sunhawk....w.asp?PRODID=233628
[gnomethang, Oct 04 2004]

+ but FYI K525 first movement is in G Major.
-- gnomethang, Jul 23 2003


Please, leave it as simple beeps! If a truck is backing up, I want to be alerted into full awareness, not lulled into relaxation.
-- DrCurry, Jul 23 2003


I was thinking different trucks could have different scales (e.g. Garbage-G Major; Construction-C Major; Dump Trucks-D Major) so when you're in your apartment, you can tell what kind of truck it is without looking out the window.
-- phundug, Jul 23 2003


<oblig>Bus carrying coal worker from colliery - A Minor</oblig>
-- gnomethang, Jul 23 2003


Re-e-verse.

And the crowd say bo... Securicor.
-- sild, Jul 23 2003


Gotta vote no. I think standardization is key here -- even if the stimulus is boring, you want your brain to canalize one circuit just to instantly tell your muscles 'truck backing up nearby'. Unlike car alarms, which suggest no immediate bodily threat, I doubt (or at least hope) standardized truck warnings will get tuned out much...

But it might be easier for more people to hear were the pitch a bit lower than is typical. There should, presumably, be a pitch optimized for typical human ear sensitivity, binaural localizability (low pitches are easier to localize by phase, high pitches by damping), and salience against typical street noise. In fact, maybe the pitch could automatically alter slightly depending on ambient noise patterns?
-- n-pearson, Jul 23 2003


// want to be alerted into full awareness, not lulled into relaxation//

<pluterday waves rhinestone-encrusted fingers over her crystal ball>
I see a truck. The truck is moving forward at a high velocity. The drive is laughing—he’s got DrCurry in his sights. Now DrCurry is down, run over, flattened. But he’s still fully aware. The driver puts the truck into reverse, and <beep-beep-beep> backs over him. <the ball goes to black>
-- pluterday, Jul 23 2003


NO. Not ring tones. Not human voices that say "Warning, please!" Beeps. Exactly the same as before, still piercing enough to notice, just in different pitches.
-- phundug, Jul 23 2003


I like this. Every day life should be more "happy" than just beep beep... but DrC has a point.
-- Pericles, Jul 23 2003


//Please, leave it as simple beeps//

Actually [DrC],, simple beeps often go unnoticed by dock workers because they here them so much, most new trucks produce a violent random stream of beeps, screaches and cut-outs, all to get and keep the attention of the people.

The same theory went behind the new design of ambulance and police sirens, Instead of going "woohoo, woohoo, woohoo" they now go, "woohoo, honk, errrnaww, errnaww, ahn ahn ahn, woohoo, ahrn ahrn"

btw it's fun trying to type sounds.....
-- SystemAdmin, Jul 23 2003


I always thought Eine Kleine first movement would work well given a bluegrass treatment.
-- waugsqueke, Jul 23 2003


My appartment backs onto a construction companies HQ. I have inane beeping from 7:00 in the morning till about 8:30, this would help awfully (+).
-- silverstormer, Jul 23 2003


I was thinking of a fog horn, so it would attract attention. Maybe you could also have an explosion simulation so that all nearby would stop and pull over. If I were to pick, I would try the finale from Maurice Ravel's Bolero. It's impressive to hear if you have it on very loud! Imagine the trumpeting and the BOOM, BOOM from the drums on a truck horn!
-- darkknight_152002, Jul 23 2003


//Imagine the trumpeting and the BOOM, BOOM from the drums// Imagine the boom boom as I smack you with my anti-noise crowbar
-- silverstormer, Jul 23 2003


Major sevenths melting into sustained fourths, melting into sevenths. There'd definitely be a tune in there somewhere.
-- DRstrathmore, Jul 23 2003


A few lines of code could prevent the dissonant tri-tones and sevenths that you loathe, increasing the tunefulness.
-- phundug, Jul 24 2003


You could get dozens of trucks to drive in circles backwards creating spontaneous ersatz minimalist compositions a la "In C". I proposed a similar idea for a music class with tuning car horns to different piches of the C major scale according to the size/class of the automobile. Drivers would be encouraged to sound their horns at all times.
-- feedmewithyourkids, Jul 24 2003


<sticks fingers in ears> la la la la la la la...
-- silverstormer, Jul 24 2003


In hindsight, I'm with DrCurry on this one. You don't want melodically-inclined people reversing trucks.
-- DRstrathmore, Jul 29 2003


<oblig> Coal truck driver run over by his own truck. A flat minor. <oblig>
-- sufc, Jul 29 2003


Hands sufc a gold star.
-- thumbwax, Jul 30 2003


<rant>Was 'Truck Backing' ever a major cause of death before the beeps ? I live on a street where trucks unload at 7 o'clock every morning and the sound that is the most annoying and mind maddingly piercing out of all the banging, crashing and engine revving is that damn beeping. It's like an aural acetyline torch</rant> Hmm, I like the idea, some sort of lullaby would be nice.
-- nichpo, Jul 30 2003



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