[ahmedfromtunis]

I think it's time for some sort of a safety standard for a sound frequency to be reserved exclusively for alarm/alert use and that ANC systems have to let through.

It goes without saying, use of said frequency should be prohibited for other purposes, especially marketing.

[zielmicha]

I think this is a really bad idea unless paired with some regime that penalizes inappropiate use of alarms - and most societies don't treat noise pollution as a real problem. For example, people honk all the time even when there are no safety issues. Or have misconfigured home/car alarms. Outlawing using ANC for blocking "fake alarms" only makes the problem worse.

[soco]

No honk in Switzerland, some honk in Romania, all honk in India. There's no one rule to rule them all.

[yreg]

I've recently visited the southern US (Texas, Louisiana and such) and I was very surprised about the lack of honking. When I returned to Europe I've felt like in India.

I myself pretty much never honk. I understand honking makes sense on narrow bendy roads like in the mountains, where you need to alert the drivers behind the corner, but I don't see any other legitimate reasons to be honest.

[47282847]

> some regime that penalizes inappropiate use of alarms

Legally, use of horns in traffic is restricted, and abuse can be punished. Doesn’t keep people from honking all the time.

[apothegm]

It’s thoroughly unenforced, which is the problem.

Tho I like the proposal to require that manufacturers design car horns to sound as loudly inside the cabin as outside. Might make a dent.

[gozzoo]

as soon they do that all kind of companies will start abusing it, for example the sound of all smart phone notification will use exactly that frequency

[grvbck]

I don't know… If I'm sitting at home or at a cafe working, I want my headphones to block all bicycle bells and ambulances on the street. Those in traffic could perhaps just turn their ANC off?

[loco5niner]

... and fire alarms? carbon monoxide detectors?

[grvbck]

Won't those cut right through the ANC just by volume alone? A domestic fire alarm is 85–120 dB, I don't think my airpods can mute that.

And of course there will always be fringe cases. What if I go to sleep with regular foam earplugs, what if I take a sleeping pill etc. Or what if the warning sound can't be engineered to fit a ANC friendly frequency, like somebody screaming, a car tire screech behind me and so on.

[tensor]

There is no ANC that can block those, both because of volume and also because ANC only blocks constant noises like hums. It's terrible and sudden noises like alarms and honking.

[ndsipa_pomu]

However, deaf people are allowed to drive, cycle, walk etc. so sound won't always work anyway.

[tonyedgecombe]

I suspect deaf people are more aware of their lack of hearing than headphone wearers.

[Tade0]

Regular alarm sounds already do that, because above 1kHz or so it's the cushioning in the device that does the majority of the cancelling. There's a dip in effectiveness before that because to cancel noise effectively it's best to have a latency lower than a quarter of the wave's period.

Also ANC works best on wide-spectrum sounds, so any kind of siren or the cries of a child will go through, as the spectrum is a series of narrow peaks.

[joquarky]

We can't even prevent radio advertisers from playing sirens.

[tensor]

With all the road noise and now noise makers required even for silent EVs, noise cancelling headphones are the last resort for people to get some relief from the constant noise pollution in cities.

And now you want to take that away too? No thanks. I get safety is important, but so is relief from noise pollution. Noise pollution is very damaging to your health. There needs to be a balance, and currently the safety police are weighing the scales inappropriately low.

[falsemyrmidon]

The real safety move is to not put yourself in situations where you're going to collide with the least dangerous class of commuters.

[BrtByte]

In theory that sounds nice, but I suspect it would be much harder to make work in practice than it seems

[impish9208]

Ha, I had the same idea before I realized it’ll just be used for ads. It would be cool for pilots’ announcements on a flight, or approaching stations on the train etc. But CVS will use it to tell you to download their app and enroll in ExtraCare Rewards. Or “Did you know you may be due for more than fourteen vaccines all at no cost to you?”

[Ilikesoda112]

this sounds like an amazing idea, the govt should introduce laws so that the companies do this