WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.434 Do you know what this thing is? 00:00:02.602 --> 00:00:03.803 Some of you do. 00:00:03.837 --> 00:00:07.407 And many, many more of you have definitely seen one of these before, 00:00:07.407 --> 00:00:10.010 but you might not have realized what it is. 00:00:10.510 --> 00:00:13.046 And that's because it's not meant to be seen. 00:00:13.046 --> 00:00:14.347 It's meant to be heard. 00:00:15.248 --> 00:00:17.384 This device is really fascinating to me 00:00:17.384 --> 00:00:19.719 because it represents a kind of innovation 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:22.322 which had to happen without being noticed. 00:00:22.856 --> 00:00:24.858 Because if you noticed it, 00:00:25.392 --> 00:00:26.760 that would defeat its purpose. 00:00:27.594 --> 00:00:29.863 Here, let me just hook 12V up to this thing. 00:00:30.263 --> 00:00:31.898 [the sound of a bell being rung repeatedly] 00:00:32.298 --> 00:00:36.136 That’s right, this is an electronic railroad crossing bell. 00:00:36.903 --> 00:00:40.040 If you've spent any time near a railroad crossing in the US, 00:00:40.040 --> 00:00:41.207 you'll have heard them. 00:00:41.274 --> 00:00:44.144 They provide an audible warning designed to get your attention 00:00:44.177 --> 00:00:45.712 so you know a train is approaching 00:00:45.979 --> 00:00:48.615 and maybe you should get away from the railroad tracks. 00:00:49.549 --> 00:00:51.151 That's a very important warning. 00:00:51.151 --> 00:00:54.020 And because we used to use literal bells 00:00:54.020 --> 00:00:57.757 which were rung by an electromechanical striker for that purpose, 00:00:58.191 --> 00:01:02.429 the electronic replacement for them needed to make the same sound 00:01:02.429 --> 00:01:04.397 so it was immediately recognizable. 00:01:05.065 --> 00:01:07.067 And so... they do! 00:01:08.001 --> 00:01:10.937 These things started to show up in the early 1990s. 00:01:11.304 --> 00:01:13.273 This particular railroad crossing... 00:01:13.873 --> 00:01:16.743 “bell” was made by General Signals Incorporated, 00:01:17.010 --> 00:01:18.745 and they still produced them to this day 00:01:18.745 --> 00:01:21.147 with basically the same construction as this one. 00:01:21.981 --> 00:01:28.288 Which delights me because holy crap does this thing scream hand-built in some garage somewhere! 00:01:28.855 --> 00:01:33.726 This is literally a PVC drain pipe and cap spray painted silver 00:01:33.960 --> 00:01:37.530 and with these pill-shaped holes cut out of it with bug screening installed. 00:01:38.364 --> 00:01:40.500 Hanging below the cap is a circuit board 00:01:40.500 --> 00:01:43.103 which contains an amplifier, ROM chip, and DAC. 00:01:43.636 --> 00:01:44.971 When you give it 12V, 00:01:45.238 --> 00:01:48.608 it just plays the recording on that ROM chip over and over again 00:01:48.775 --> 00:01:51.478 through an off the shelf horn-style loudspeaker, 00:01:51.678 --> 00:01:54.547 which fires down onto this wedge thing 00:01:54.747 --> 00:01:57.083 which will bounce the sound out in all directions. 00:01:57.784 --> 00:01:59.619 And then there's this fitting on here - 00:01:59.752 --> 00:02:01.788 the only thing made of actual metal! - 00:02:02.155 --> 00:02:05.625 which allows this to be installed atop the mast of a crossing signal. 00:02:06.960 --> 00:02:09.229 This is critical safety infrastructure. 00:02:09.496 --> 00:02:12.866 And it's like made out of parts from a hardware store. 00:02:13.099 --> 00:02:14.300 I love it! 00:02:14.601 --> 00:02:16.469 Now, there are several different manufacturers 00:02:16.469 --> 00:02:19.239 making these things, and they don't all look just like this one. 00:02:19.606 --> 00:02:20.874 But the concept is the same. 00:02:21.107 --> 00:02:23.943 Just a loudspeaker of some sort on top of a pole, 00:02:23.943 --> 00:02:27.413 which imitates the sound of the big bells of the past. 00:02:28.181 --> 00:02:32.185 GSI is really proud of their 16-bit sound technology. 00:02:32.452 --> 00:02:33.853 Such high fidelity! 00:02:34.821 --> 00:02:37.590 Some mechanical bells are still in service, and in fact, 00:02:37.590 --> 00:02:39.359 some are even still being manufactured. 00:02:39.359 --> 00:02:42.529 So you'll still see them (and hear them) from time to time. 00:02:42.862 --> 00:02:46.199 But electronic bells like this are far more common these days, 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:48.301 because they're just a lot more flexible 00:02:48.301 --> 00:02:50.470 and presumably require less maintenance. 00:02:51.404 --> 00:02:55.208 They don't really have anything to service and just might one day fail. 00:02:55.642 --> 00:02:56.876 And that's what happened with this one. 00:02:56.910 --> 00:02:58.444 The loudspeaker had failed, 00:02:58.444 --> 00:03:01.181 and whatever railroad owned it simply tossed it. 00:03:01.948 --> 00:03:04.918 But almost anything can be fixed if you're patient enough. 00:03:04.918 --> 00:03:06.419 And that's how I got it working. 00:03:06.686 --> 00:03:08.888 The board was fine, if a little corroded, 00:03:09.289 --> 00:03:11.157 and the hardest part was simply getting it apart 00:03:11.157 --> 00:03:15.228 because the fasteners holding the board and speaker to the, I remind you 00:03:15.228 --> 00:03:19.299 PVC drain pipe cap had all rusted quite badly. 00:03:19.666 --> 00:03:21.534 I still can't believe how crude this thing is. 00:03:22.435 --> 00:03:25.572 For those curious, here's the raw signal coming from the board. 00:03:25.805 --> 00:03:28.775 [the bell sounding crisper but a bit scratchy, too] 00:03:29.275 --> 00:03:32.245 This early version has a highly compressed recording, 00:03:32.245 --> 00:03:35.582 which doesn't capture the clang of the bell really at all. 00:03:35.815 --> 00:03:38.518 And instead it comes across more like a thump. 00:03:38.518 --> 00:03:42.488 Though, through that tinny loudspeaker, you can't even really hear the thump. 00:03:42.855 --> 00:03:46.826 It's more like a tone that decays and then resets back to full intensity 00:03:46.826 --> 00:03:48.027 again and again. 00:03:51.731 --> 00:03:53.967 And this is how I tested that the board was working 00:03:53.967 --> 00:03:55.435 when I first got the thing. 00:03:55.435 --> 00:03:56.903 [an oddly hi-fi bell] 00:03:57.237 --> 00:03:58.404 I have a weird job. 00:03:59.138 --> 00:04:02.308 But I'm not just making a video about this railroad crossing bell. 00:04:02.909 --> 00:04:05.245 I'm making a video about what it represents: 00:04:05.445 --> 00:04:07.947 conveying information through sound. 00:04:08.648 --> 00:04:11.084 This is something we humans do all the time. 00:04:11.284 --> 00:04:12.885 In fact, I'm doing it right now! 00:04:13.186 --> 00:04:16.256 I'm using my gross wet mouth parts to modulate the tone 00:04:16.256 --> 00:04:20.260 coming from my gross wet vocal cords, and with a little consonant flair, 00:04:20.260 --> 00:04:22.996 I can convey information from my brain to yours. 00:04:23.696 --> 00:04:25.098 But that's using language. 00:04:25.298 --> 00:04:28.368 Certainly one of the most impressive things our brains can decode, 00:04:28.735 --> 00:04:31.170 but also kind of clunky and slow. 00:04:32.205 --> 00:04:35.408 Our pattern matching circuits can work in many other ways, too - 00:04:35.441 --> 00:04:36.876 so long as we're consistent. 00:04:37.877 --> 00:04:39.078 Hence, this thing. 00:04:39.612 --> 00:04:42.115 I want to focus some attention on the different ways 00:04:42.115 --> 00:04:44.717 we use sound for communication purposes. 00:04:45.451 --> 00:04:48.354 We have a tremendous wireless communication system 00:04:48.354 --> 00:04:51.724 built into our bodies that we can use in so many ways. 00:04:51.758 --> 00:04:54.494 Yet I feel like this is getting neglected lately. 00:04:55.295 --> 00:04:58.131 Some of that is due to shifting cultural preferences. 00:04:58.531 --> 00:05:02.435 I know these days many people find noises to be annoying and obtrusive, 00:05:03.102 --> 00:05:04.771 but they don't have to be. 00:05:05.271 --> 00:05:08.608 And if we put a little more effort into good sound design, 00:05:09.309 --> 00:05:12.912 we might get a little closer to that sci fi future we were promised 00:05:13.179 --> 00:05:14.881 and not the one we're being sold. 00:05:15.748 --> 00:05:18.351 But let's start with something a little more old school. 00:05:18.351 --> 00:05:19.452 [ding] 00:05:19.686 --> 00:05:21.621 If this rings a bell, you should know 00:05:21.954 --> 00:05:23.690 It actually strikes a chime. 00:05:24.557 --> 00:05:26.426 This is a door entry alert, 00:05:26.426 --> 00:05:28.494 and it's the simplest kind there is. 00:05:29.228 --> 00:05:34.133 It's just a plastic box with a chime and spring loaded striker attached to a magnet. 00:05:34.701 --> 00:05:37.437 When installed on a door, a metal plate on the door 00:05:37.437 --> 00:05:39.772 will pull on that striker as the door opens, 00:05:39.906 --> 00:05:42.342 storing a little bit of energy in that spring. 00:05:42.709 --> 00:05:45.178 And once the magnet is released, the striker hits 00:05:45.178 --> 00:05:47.613 the chime bar, producing a pleasant tone. 00:05:48.614 --> 00:05:50.750 The purpose of this is to alert shopkeepers 00:05:50.750 --> 00:05:53.953 who might be in the back of their store that someone has entered. 00:05:54.821 --> 00:05:57.357 There are, of course, electronic versions of this, 00:05:57.657 --> 00:06:02.161 but frankly, none of them produce a sound quite as pleasant as these old ones do, 00:06:02.428 --> 00:06:04.397 which is probably why they're still so common. 00:06:05.365 --> 00:06:06.766 This slider, by the way, 00:06:06.766 --> 00:06:08.534 allows you to turn this off if you'd like. 00:06:09.602 --> 00:06:11.104 I've always been fond of these things 00:06:11.104 --> 00:06:15.908 because they do their job incredibly well while also being dead simple. 00:06:16.542 --> 00:06:18.878 The sound they produce is distinct but pleasant, 00:06:19.011 --> 00:06:21.481 and it carries well without being startling. 00:06:22.348 --> 00:06:23.916 It checks all the boxes! 00:06:24.650 --> 00:06:26.619 Yes, there are fancier things out there 00:06:26.619 --> 00:06:28.154 which can activate sound makers 00:06:28.154 --> 00:06:31.724 in various locations, which might be helpful depending on the situation. 00:06:31.958 --> 00:06:33.493 Such as for a larger store. 00:06:33.860 --> 00:06:36.462 And of course, now we can install smart door sensors 00:06:36.462 --> 00:06:38.798 which can even send a push notification to your phone. 00:06:39.665 --> 00:06:42.268 But if you've got a small store and all you want 00:06:42.301 --> 00:06:44.003 is to be alerted to someone walking in, 00:06:44.737 --> 00:06:45.938 these are hard to beat. 00:06:46.506 --> 00:06:47.707 They just work. 00:06:47.707 --> 00:06:49.242 No need to mess with batteries even. 00:06:50.042 --> 00:06:53.212 This is the same sort of thing as the railroad crossing bell: 00:06:53.646 --> 00:06:56.249 a specific sound, which means a certain thing. 00:06:56.849 --> 00:07:03.656 But we can also use a wide variety of sounds to convey the same message with the use of encoding. 00:07:03.656 --> 00:07:05.558 For example, do you know what this means? 00:07:05.925 --> 00:07:08.895 [an electronic tone playing in time with the icon on-screen] 00:07:10.163 --> 00:07:12.331 You probably should by now. 00:07:12.965 --> 00:07:16.769 This pattern of sound is used to alert of a fire emergency. 00:07:17.637 --> 00:07:19.939 Full disclosure this is not an international standard. 00:07:20.339 --> 00:07:22.842 I think perhaps there's merit to it becoming one, but for now, 00:07:22.842 --> 00:07:25.144 this is mainly a US thing as far as I can tell. 00:07:25.578 --> 00:07:28.247 But that thing is called Temporal 3, 00:07:28.247 --> 00:07:32.518 and it has become the standard signal that fire alarms and smoke detectors use. 00:07:33.286 --> 00:07:37.390 The sound those things make is meant to be annoying and intrusive to get your attention. 00:07:37.990 --> 00:07:41.093 But you'll notice I haven't been using the sound of a smoke alarm. 00:07:41.861 --> 00:07:45.798 That's because this signal is based entirely on cadence. 00:07:46.332 --> 00:07:49.702 Three bursts of sound are followed by a silent period. 00:07:50.369 --> 00:07:53.639 Usually this pattern operates at one beat per second. 00:07:53.873 --> 00:07:57.210 So you have three seconds of sound, then one second of silence. 00:07:57.810 --> 00:08:00.012 And that has several key advantages: 00:08:00.413 --> 00:08:03.483 the fact that it's a pulsing sound makes it easier to notice. 00:08:03.850 --> 00:08:06.652 A constant noise can blend into a noisy environment, 00:08:06.919 --> 00:08:09.288 but something which alternates between sound and silence 00:08:09.422 --> 00:08:11.691 is much more likely to pierce through the background. 00:08:12.592 --> 00:08:15.595 But simply getting noticed isn't the only goal. 00:08:16.329 --> 00:08:18.564 It's easy to notice that something's beeping, 00:08:19.131 --> 00:08:21.033 But it's also easy to dismiss that. 00:08:21.400 --> 00:08:23.970 Beeping could mean anything from a reversing truck 00:08:23.970 --> 00:08:26.372 in the distance to your neighbor using their microwave. 00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:30.409 Temporal 3's pause between every three beeps 00:08:30.643 --> 00:08:33.112 serves as a literal pattern interrupt. 00:08:33.646 --> 00:08:36.983 That can be somewhat jarring, so it's good for getting your attention. 00:08:37.950 --> 00:08:40.987 The need for a specific kind of signal to indicate 00:08:40.987 --> 00:08:44.357 a fire emergency has been known for many years. 00:08:44.857 --> 00:08:48.794 I stumbled across this old promotional record from the Autocall company 00:08:48.961 --> 00:08:51.230 demonstrating The Slow Whoop: 00:08:51.797 --> 00:08:55.368 a signal they had devised and were trying to make into something of a thing. 00:08:56.068 --> 00:08:58.738 No doubt since patents royalties would be quite lucrative. 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:01.407 The record went through the same list of things 00:09:01.407 --> 00:09:03.910 I just did on what makes for an effective signal. 00:09:04.176 --> 00:09:07.046 And the slow whoop did check all those boxes. 00:09:07.947 --> 00:09:12.852 But creating a device that made that audible signal back in 1974 00:09:12.852 --> 00:09:16.489 required some fairly complicated and expensive electronics for the time. 00:09:17.089 --> 00:09:20.726 So while the slow whoop did end up in use in some places, 00:09:21.260 --> 00:09:24.430 it wasn't commonplace, except perhaps in certain locales. 00:09:25.264 --> 00:09:31.203 Temporal 3, on the other hand, could be adapted to almost any existing fire alarm system. 00:09:31.871 --> 00:09:33.205 All that needed to be tweaked 00:09:33.205 --> 00:09:36.042 was how power was sent from the fire alarm panel 00:09:36.042 --> 00:09:37.877 out to the horns throughout the building. 00:09:38.511 --> 00:09:41.147 Rather than send constant power during an alarm, 00:09:41.447 --> 00:09:44.417 tt would be pulsed following the Temporal 3 cadence. 00:09:45.051 --> 00:09:46.619 And with that simple change, 00:09:46.619 --> 00:09:49.689 you've made the alarm far more distinct and noticeable, 00:09:49.989 --> 00:09:52.725 while also giving it a specific meaning. 00:09:53.893 --> 00:09:58.998 But the somewhat odd thing is that despite this being an option for over 50 years, 00:09:59.198 --> 00:10:02.602 and even being encouraged by various fire safety organizations, 00:10:03.235 --> 00:10:06.606 it still isn't quite universal in commercial fire alarm systems. 00:10:07.473 --> 00:10:10.443 And that's made even weirder by the fact that when it comes 00:10:10.443 --> 00:10:15.348 to household smoke alarms, Temporal 3 has become effectively universal. 00:10:16.315 --> 00:10:21.020 Smoke alarms of my youth sounded very different compared to how they sound today. 00:10:21.921 --> 00:10:24.357 I don't know when exactly that change happened, 00:10:24.357 --> 00:10:26.258 but it's been something like 20 years. 00:10:26.692 --> 00:10:27.994 And here's the thing: 00:10:28.127 --> 00:10:32.565 standardization had to happen because in addition to smoke alarms, 00:10:32.865 --> 00:10:35.568 we also use carbon monoxide alarms in the home. 00:10:36.268 --> 00:10:40.306 That's a very different kind of but no less dangerous emergency. 00:10:40.640 --> 00:10:45.778 And in many cases, those two functions are combined into a single alarm device. 00:10:46.479 --> 00:10:49.015 That necessitates a different kind of signal 00:10:49.015 --> 00:10:51.751 for the two different things it's designed to alert you to. 00:10:52.385 --> 00:10:54.620 And a carbon monoxide alarm in the US 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:58.624 produces four rapid beeps with a long pause in between them. 00:10:58.891 --> 00:10:59.625 Like this: 00:11:01.594 --> 00:11:04.830 That is quite distinct from the other alarm pattern, 00:11:05.064 --> 00:11:07.233 and makes the two alerts easy to distinguish. 00:11:08.334 --> 00:11:10.569 I think this sort of signal standardization, 00:11:10.569 --> 00:11:14.740 which codifies what different sounds mean, is an unquestionably good thing. 00:11:15.307 --> 00:11:18.310 That's why the crossing bell still sounds like an old school bell. 00:11:19.145 --> 00:11:22.314 And in many places now, it's required by fire codes. 00:11:22.915 --> 00:11:24.817 The National Fire Protection Association 00:11:24.817 --> 00:11:27.953 specifies Temporal 3 for fire evacuations 00:11:28.220 --> 00:11:30.623 and Temporal 4 for carbon monoxide. 00:11:31.457 --> 00:11:34.760 But what I think is so strange is that apparently 00:11:34.760 --> 00:11:36.929 this is just something you're supposed to pick up on. 00:11:37.630 --> 00:11:42.468 I don't think I've ever encountered anyone explaining the difference between those two alerts, 00:11:42.468 --> 00:11:47.006 or even the simple fact that groups of three long beeps with a second of silence between them 00:11:47.339 --> 00:11:51.143 is now the near universal signal for a fire emergency. 00:11:52.211 --> 00:11:54.480 And I think that's just kind of strange. 00:11:55.081 --> 00:11:56.282 So I'm doing it. 00:11:56.282 --> 00:11:57.483 You're welcome! 00:11:57.650 --> 00:11:58.150 Of course, 00:11:58.150 --> 00:12:02.922 we've been using patterns of sound to mean certain things for centuries. 00:12:03.355 --> 00:12:05.991 Clock towers ring bells in certain sequences 00:12:05.991 --> 00:12:08.027 so anyone in earshot can tell the time. 00:12:08.494 --> 00:12:10.463 And even something as simple as a doorbell 00:12:10.463 --> 00:12:13.399 can be configured to make a ding dong when someone's at the front door 00:12:13.632 --> 00:12:17.036 and just a ding (or dong) when someone's at the back door. 00:12:17.937 --> 00:12:21.307 Now we just text “here” so that doesn't matter so much these days. 00:12:21.307 --> 00:12:23.242 But there was that period of time 00:12:23.242 --> 00:12:25.678 where you had to learn Morse code to send text messages. 00:12:25.678 --> 00:12:29.415 So, you know, there's another example of using patterns of sound 00:12:29.415 --> 00:12:32.118 to convey a specific meaning, one letter at a time. 00:12:32.885 --> 00:12:35.955 But here's a much more modern use of sound patterns, 00:12:35.955 --> 00:12:40.159 which is still in use today and which demonstrates a mastery of sound design. 00:12:40.392 --> 00:12:41.827 [airplane bing-bong] 00:12:41.827 --> 00:12:45.865 Yeah, those bings, bongs, and bing-bongs you hear on an airplane 00:12:45.865 --> 00:12:49.835 are another form of audible alert with some surprising flexibility. 00:12:50.569 --> 00:12:54.306 Those are used by the crew to communicate specific needs to one another. 00:12:54.573 --> 00:12:57.543 For instance, if the captain needs to speak to the flight attendants. 00:12:58.377 --> 00:13:00.846 The specifics vary from airline to airline, 00:13:01.180 --> 00:13:03.549 but pay attention and you'll pick up on a lot. 00:13:04.884 --> 00:13:07.219 That's actually just good life advice in general - 00:13:07.653 --> 00:13:08.921 it's why I'm like this! 00:13:09.321 --> 00:13:11.624 But the thing about those bing-bongs 00:13:11.624 --> 00:13:15.594 is that they were designed to be noticeable, to convey complex meaning. 00:13:15.728 --> 00:13:18.731 and - unlike what we've been discussing so far 00:13:19.198 --> 00:13:20.699 to be unobtrusive. 00:13:21.534 --> 00:13:23.869 I've certainly been on airplanes where the volume was set 00:13:24.270 --> 00:13:26.772 a little too high so they can be obtrusive, 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:29.742 but when done well, it's the best of both worlds. 00:13:30.242 --> 00:13:34.180 It's a signal designed to be noticed by the people who need to notice it, 00:13:34.613 --> 00:13:37.416 but to be subtle enough to not distract you from the movie 00:13:37.416 --> 00:13:39.118 you're watching or the book you're reading 00:13:39.118 --> 00:13:40.419 or the sleep you're trying to get. 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:44.223 And through the use of two tones with two different pitches, 00:13:44.557 --> 00:13:46.425 there are several distinct patterns 00:13:46.425 --> 00:13:50.429 which can be used to convey different things like who is paging who. 00:13:51.297 --> 00:13:54.533 It's a system that's been in use for a very, very long time, 00:13:54.533 --> 00:13:56.769 but which does its job in such a subtle way 00:13:57.002 --> 00:13:59.805 that many fliers don't even realize what it's for. 00:14:00.673 --> 00:14:03.175 Airplane bing-bong, in my opnion, 00:14:03.175 --> 00:14:08.080 demonstrate the amazing things we could be doing with careful and intentional sound design 00:14:08.614 --> 00:14:10.149 if we only wanted to. 00:14:11.050 --> 00:14:13.686 Maybe I'm just weird, which I am. 00:14:13.986 --> 00:14:17.323 But it feels like we just sorta lost the ability 00:14:17.323 --> 00:14:19.792 or perhaps desire to do this. 00:14:20.526 --> 00:14:22.895 When I was a kid, people wore wristwatches 00:14:22.895 --> 00:14:24.430 which double beeped on the hour. 00:14:24.496 --> 00:14:27.666 Something I personally found quite handy for keeping track of the time. 00:14:28.534 --> 00:14:32.872 But today, devices which make noise almost feel taboo. 00:14:33.539 --> 00:14:35.574 I seem to be one of very few people left 00:14:35.608 --> 00:14:39.311 who bother to curate a selection of notification sounds for my phone 00:14:39.645 --> 00:14:43.282 and set them on a per-app and even per-contact basis. 00:14:44.016 --> 00:14:46.552 This is something I find incredibly helpful, 00:14:46.819 --> 00:14:48.621 but which clearly went out of fashion. 00:14:50.222 --> 00:14:53.759 And no, this video is not just to address my social anxiety about that. 00:14:53.792 --> 00:14:55.094 What are you talk- that's ridiculous. 00:14:55.294 --> 00:14:58.597 I understand that we are probably in a corrective period 00:14:58.597 --> 00:15:02.167 after the years of incredibly irritating ringtones, 00:15:02.468 --> 00:15:05.337 and these days, a lot of you have way too many apps 00:15:05.337 --> 00:15:07.673 sending you way too many push notifications, 00:15:08.340 --> 00:15:10.609 which is more of a condemnation of push notifications 00:15:10.609 --> 00:15:13.212 and not the apps you use, for the record. 00:15:13.445 --> 00:15:14.179 But personally, 00:15:14.179 --> 00:15:18.284 I choose to work to keep things on my phone at a reasonable to manage level, 00:15:18.550 --> 00:15:22.288 and there are plenty of non-intrusive sounds out there. 00:15:22.788 --> 00:15:25.057 I've been using my own custom sounds for years, 00:15:25.057 --> 00:15:27.092 some of which are airplane bing-bongs. 00:15:28.160 --> 00:15:30.696 I just like to know what that notification was 00:15:30.696 --> 00:15:32.665 and whether it needs my immediate attention 00:15:32.698 --> 00:15:35.067 no matter where I might have set my phone down, 00:15:35.067 --> 00:15:37.403 or before I even take my phone out of my pocket. 00:15:38.170 --> 00:15:42.908 And look, I am not about to buy another computer to wear on my wrist. 00:15:43.309 --> 00:15:46.011 I simply refuse to be that plugged in any longer. 00:15:46.645 --> 00:15:49.949 Though if someone would resurrect the Pebble, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. 00:15:51.450 --> 00:15:52.851 Oh wait, that happened! 00:15:54.053 --> 00:15:56.989 Yeah, I started writing this script a long time ago. 00:15:57.589 --> 00:15:59.591 If you don't know anything about the Pebble smartwatch, 00:15:59.591 --> 00:16:02.861 I'm not about to go on a tangent about it, but if you're like me 00:16:02.861 --> 00:16:06.398 and simply want a notification-mirroring watch with a whimsical design 00:16:06.398 --> 00:16:10.069 philosophy and battery life measured in weeks and not days, 00:16:10.602 --> 00:16:14.006 well, you should know it is coming back and it's even open source. 00:16:14.640 --> 00:16:16.842 I'll put a link in the description for those who want more info. 00:16:17.176 --> 00:16:19.345 But anyway, even though I have 00:16:19.345 --> 00:16:22.348 what might be my favorite ever gadget back on my wrist, 00:16:22.715 --> 00:16:25.417 I still want my phone to make a sound 00:16:25.584 --> 00:16:30.155 because I have a really hard time noticing vibration and always have. 00:16:30.622 --> 00:16:32.591 I even miss it on my wrist sometimes. 00:16:32.825 --> 00:16:37.796 So for me, I consider audible notification sounds to be an accessibility tool. 00:16:38.630 --> 00:16:41.600 But I am also considerate about other people 00:16:41.700 --> 00:16:46.205 and use sounds which aren't obnoxious, like those airplane bing bongs 00:16:46.472 --> 00:16:48.540 or the people mover chime. 00:16:48.540 --> 00:16:49.575 Or this one. 00:16:49.575 --> 00:16:50.743 [Metra/Caltrain door closing chime] 00:16:50.743 --> 00:16:53.012 That's for those of you who still think I'm car-brained. 00:16:53.712 --> 00:16:56.982 I would argue that there's actually quite a lot of fun to be had here. 00:16:57.516 --> 00:17:02.254 And while I am sympathetic to the notion that sound pollution is a thing, we need to be concerned with, 00:17:02.654 --> 00:17:06.992 the choice between silence and sound pollution is a false choice. 00:17:07.659 --> 00:17:12.131 There's a lot of those happening these days, probably because we're so stuck in binary thinking. 00:17:12.531 --> 00:17:15.200 But as airplanes show us, we can design 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:18.404 sounds which aren't obtrusive, but which are helpful. 00:17:19.271 --> 00:17:21.573 And when you get yourself out of binary thinking, 00:17:21.874 --> 00:17:25.411 you can do things like make your most obnoxious apps be silent 00:17:25.544 --> 00:17:28.080 while your important ones make themselves known, 00:17:28.380 --> 00:17:31.717 and in ways which are meaningful to you and pleasant to everyone else. 00:17:32.518 --> 00:17:34.920 And to be clear, I don't think it should be up to you. 00:17:35.554 --> 00:17:37.656 I spend way too much time on this! 00:17:38.524 --> 00:17:41.693 I just think we need to appreciate and bring back 00:17:41.693 --> 00:17:44.663 the art of good and intentional sound design. 00:17:45.531 --> 00:17:49.768 Many years ago, I made a video on elevator chimes and how in the US, 00:17:49.902 --> 00:17:52.838 the Americans with Disabilities Act requires an elevator 00:17:52.838 --> 00:17:57.009 which is going up to make a single chime when it arrives at the landing, 00:17:57.376 --> 00:18:00.712 and an elevator which is going down has to make two chimes. 00:18:02.781 --> 00:18:06.385 Very few people even pick up on that unless they're who that's meant for: 00:18:06.652 --> 00:18:07.853 the blind. 00:18:08.253 --> 00:18:10.889 But it's incredibly useful for those who need it. 00:18:11.123 --> 00:18:15.160 And when we design things well, we can make them useful for all. 00:18:16.161 --> 00:18:21.600 I'd love it if our tech overlords could be bothered to hire some good sound designers again 00:18:21.600 --> 00:18:25.270 who understand the tension between sound pollution and accessibility. 00:18:25.604 --> 00:18:30.109 Because the default choices that come with a phone these days all kind of suck. 00:18:30.109 --> 00:18:32.578 And for those of us who want to be intentional about it, 00:18:32.911 --> 00:18:35.481 it's a very clunky experience to set up. 00:18:35.814 --> 00:18:37.816 Even using the sounds the phone came with. 00:18:38.584 --> 00:18:41.019 And I know that people designing phones today 00:18:41.019 --> 00:18:43.522 don't give a rat's ass about people like me anymore 00:18:43.522 --> 00:18:46.592 because they've made what I consider to be basic functions, 00:18:46.592 --> 00:18:48.727 like putting a phone on vibrate or silent, 00:18:48.894 --> 00:18:51.063 or adjusting ring and notification volume 00:18:51.396 --> 00:18:53.799 to be way more difficult than it used to be. 00:18:54.466 --> 00:18:56.702 It's irritating enough for someone like me, 00:18:56.735 --> 00:18:59.705 and genuinely a problem for people like my parents. 00:19:00.405 --> 00:19:02.875 When an Android update changed how that worked, 00:19:03.075 --> 00:19:07.012 my mom kept accidentally setting the notification volume way, way down 00:19:07.346 --> 00:19:09.281 and she was missing stuff right and left. 00:19:10.115 --> 00:19:12.184 That's not really an issue with sound design, 00:19:12.184 --> 00:19:15.254 but it is an issue with basic usability and accessibility. 00:19:15.721 --> 00:19:19.525 And I would love it if the people in Silicon Valley could respect those of us 00:19:19.525 --> 00:19:22.094 who don't want our crap to change on us like that. 00:19:22.327 --> 00:19:24.296 That is not a software upgrade. 00:19:24.329 --> 00:19:25.964 That's user hostile. 00:19:26.398 --> 00:19:28.300 Think about other people for once! 00:19:28.934 --> 00:19:29.968 While I'm ranting, 00:19:29.968 --> 00:19:35.140 let me also just say I wish I could make my phone do things like suppress the notification sound 00:19:35.140 --> 00:19:39.511 when someone is texting me a lot and simply make the noise once every minute at most. 00:19:40.245 --> 00:19:41.747 The beautiful thing is there's a setting 00:19:41.747 --> 00:19:44.750 which claims to do that called notification cooldown, 00:19:44.917 --> 00:19:47.786 but it clearly doesn't work because it's been on the whole time. 00:19:47.953 --> 00:19:49.154 Classic Google. 00:19:49.421 --> 00:19:52.291 I also kind of miss what my very first cell phone did, 00:19:52.291 --> 00:19:56.461 which was keep beeping every few minutes to let me know I had an unread text. 00:19:57.229 --> 00:20:00.832 Obviously I wouldn't want it to do that for every text message I receive, 00:20:00.999 --> 00:20:03.869 but maybe for starred contacts? 00:20:03.869 --> 00:20:06.672 And like, this is a computer! 00:20:06.672 --> 00:20:08.807 That would not be really hard to implement at all. 00:20:08.807 --> 00:20:13.478 But nobody in charge of notification settings (in Android world at least) can imagine it being useful. 00:20:13.478 --> 00:20:14.813 So it just doesn't happen. 00:20:15.647 --> 00:20:18.850 And I know there's probably some app I could use to make that happen, 00:20:18.850 --> 00:20:20.852 or some other phone out there which can do that, 00:20:20.852 --> 00:20:24.423 but I truly don't think it's that weird of a thing for someone to want, 00:20:24.723 --> 00:20:28.360 and it should just be built into the OS like it claims to be. 00:20:30.162 --> 00:20:33.765 I'd like that way more than I want my phone to help me write an email! 00:20:34.199 --> 00:20:35.734 Okay, calm down, calm down. 00:20:36.301 --> 00:20:37.803 They don't need to know about that one 00:20:37.803 --> 00:20:40.806 Gmail account of yours, which for some reason has literally never managed 00:20:40.806 --> 00:20:42.574 to send a push notification to your phone. 00:20:42.708 --> 00:20:44.676 Despite tinkering with the Gmail app settings 00:20:44.676 --> 00:20:47.746 and the Google account settings and the phone notification settings 00:20:47.913 --> 00:20:50.682 several times off and on throughout the literal years, 00:20:50.882 --> 00:20:52.484 they don't need to know that it's not important. 00:20:52.584 --> 00:20:54.119 Everyone knows everything sucks now. 00:20:54.586 --> 00:20:56.521 But it sure could suck a lot less. 00:20:57.456 --> 00:21:01.093 Anyway, earlier I mentioned the notion of false choices. 00:21:01.893 --> 00:21:05.130 This is something I keep noticing more and more in the world of tech, 00:21:05.130 --> 00:21:10.269 and we really need to start becoming aware of when people are pushing them on us and rejecting them. 00:21:11.069 --> 00:21:14.840 A designer's idea of “best” may be great, 00:21:14.840 --> 00:21:17.809 and it could be appropriate for a large majority of users, 00:21:18.744 --> 00:21:21.780 but one man's presets are another man's hell. 00:21:22.047 --> 00:21:25.317 And if we don't give people the option to do something differently, 00:21:25.884 --> 00:21:29.488 it's important to interrogate why that might be. 00:21:29.488 --> 00:21:32.758 Right now, despite having amazing computers in our pockets, 00:21:32.758 --> 00:21:34.359 which can do tremendous things for us, 00:21:34.860 --> 00:21:37.996 we have a false choice between audible notifications 00:21:37.996 --> 00:21:40.732 that are irritating and possibly don't even work correctly, 00:21:40.999 --> 00:21:43.168 and a phone which never makes noises at all. 00:21:43.869 --> 00:21:46.905 And I believe we keep getting caught up in these false choices 00:21:47.105 --> 00:21:49.341 because we no longer do a very good job of 00:21:49.341 --> 00:21:52.678 considering what might be important to other people, and the scenarios 00:21:52.678 --> 00:21:56.014 those other people might encounter in their day to day lives. 00:21:56.815 --> 00:21:58.016 Because you know what? 00:21:58.283 --> 00:22:01.053 I would like to have an audio cue to tell me 00:22:01.053 --> 00:22:03.155 I got an email and from which account. 00:22:03.755 --> 00:22:06.191 Many times I'm waiting to hear back from someone 00:22:06.191 --> 00:22:08.560 and I don't want to miss being notified, which, 00:22:08.860 --> 00:22:11.430 as I explained earlier, often happens to me 00:22:11.430 --> 00:22:14.766 since I don't notice haptic vibration quite frequently. 00:22:15.801 --> 00:22:16.535 And yet, 00:22:16.535 --> 00:22:19.838 I would also like to be able to preview it on my wrist 00:22:19.938 --> 00:22:22.541 so I know whether that was the thing I was looking out for 00:22:22.541 --> 00:22:24.710 without digging my phone out of my pocket. 00:22:25.777 --> 00:22:28.714 I want my technology to make my life easier, 00:22:28.714 --> 00:22:31.783 and that means I want my technology to do things 00:22:31.783 --> 00:22:34.553 that work for my weird brain and its weird brain things. 00:22:35.153 --> 00:22:39.124 And yet, I would also like to be considerate of the people around me. 00:22:39.424 --> 00:22:43.261 So I would like to have audio cues which are unobtrusive. 00:22:43.895 --> 00:22:45.564 I make the effort to do that, 00:22:45.564 --> 00:22:48.400 but it's way too much effort to be putting on the end user. 00:22:49.334 --> 00:22:52.037 We can have the best of all worlds, 00:22:52.337 --> 00:22:56.541 but it requires intentionality, respect for other users and their needs, 00:22:56.908 --> 00:22:58.844 and respect for other people. 00:22:59.745 --> 00:23:04.683 Only then will we truly be Living with Each Other. 00:23:08.487 --> 00:23:12.657 ...something which alternates between sound and silence is more likely to pierce through the background, 00:23:13.825 --> 00:23:16.027 recording - there’s weird delivery happening. 00:23:16.161 --> 00:23:18.029 followed by one second of zilence. 00:23:18.697 --> 00:23:19.898 Zilence? 00:23:21.266 --> 00:23:24.302 such as the piezoelectric sounders in a battery operated - 00:23:24.302 --> 00:23:25.303 There was a weird click there. 00:23:25.303 --> 00:23:26.705 I guess I'm starting over again! 00:23:27.139 --> 00:23:31.009 And in many places now, it's required by fire cords - cords? 00:23:32.944 --> 00:23:36.815 The National Fire Protection Association specifies tempourorral 3... 00:23:37.616 --> 00:23:39.484 I'm really struggling with words. 00:23:39.684 --> 00:23:40.886 Airplane - 00:23:40.886 --> 00:23:41.987 Airplane bing - 00:23:43.422 --> 00:23:44.456 Airplane bing-bongs 00:23:44.923 --> 00:23:46.625 Airplane bing-bongs 00:23:46.925 --> 00:23:48.126 Airplane bing-bongs, 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:50.228 in my opinion [starts breaking] 00:23:50.228 --> 00:23:51.730 I'm saying it too many times! 00:23:52.431 --> 00:23:53.632 It's breaking down. 00:23:54.929 --> 00:23:58.429 [bing-bong] Well folks, erhhhhhhhh, looks like we've passed 10,000 feet. 00:23:58.429 --> 00:24:03.082 That sure is a lot of feet. Maybe there's a marathon going on or something? 00:24:03.082 --> 00:24:06.460 Ok that's not my best work. 00:24:06.460 --> 00:24:08.828 But y'know, some effort is better than no effort. 00:24:08.828 --> 00:24:10.649 Except in November, of course.