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Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

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Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#301

Post by pandaman »

prmoustache wrote: post #285
jwr wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A horn or bell is mostly for telling other people "hey I'm here, stay out of my way and dont suddenly cross into my path" This. I only use the bell on bike paths, too. Sometimes it feels like a game of pac-man, where baddies will wander into my path from all directions and in all kinds of ways. Cars doing a right turn, zombies staring into phones, people walking backwards (!), zombies staring into phones walking ba…

That is an issue on bike paths that are build inside a sidewalk, the cycling path is usually build using a smoother surface than the one designed for pedestrians. Plus it sometimes has a brighter paint. I am pretty sure most people don't realize it but they are inconciously attracted to it. It just feels better walking on it.

That's an issue on any bike path in the US, even if it's a fire road in the middle of nowhere. I bet there are people walking their dogs or checking Instagram on the single track course that is used for the Red Bull Rampage.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#302

Post by stevage »

eigenspace wrote: post #126
0x3f wrote: post #116

Do horns and bells really prevent accidents? In order for e.g. a horn to work you need enough time that the driver processes the situation and decides the horn will communicate something AND enough time for the pedestrian or whatever to process that and react to it. Generally it's a lot easier just to press the brake, and more importantly be travelling at a speed and in a manner where the brake is sufficient. Structu…

A horn or bell is mostly for telling other people "hey I'm here, stay out of my way and dont suddenly cross into my path" My opinion as a cyclist is that I should basically only be using my bell on pedestrians when the pedestrians are wandering onto the bike lane. If im cycling through a shared space, I find it extremely rude to ring the bell, because it feels like I'm telling people to get out of my way, but they ha…

>My opinion as a cyclist is that I should basically only be using my bell on pedestrians when the pedestrians are wandering onto the bike lane. If im cycling through a shared space, I find it extremely rude to ring the bell, because it feels like I'm telling people to get out of my way, but they have just as much right to a shared path as I do.

The culture around this varies a lot. I'm in Melbourne, Australia. Virtually all bike paths are "shared", and many have signs telling you to ring your bell when approaching pedestrians - you're not telling them to move out of the way, you're telling them that you're there.

In practice, I tend to use one ding to mean "I'm here" and multiple dings to mean "you're on the wrong side of the path and need to move".

But in no situation do I rely on a bike bell to avoid an accident.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#303

Post by walletdrainer »

eigenspace wrote: post #200
walletdrainer wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>blocking the isle and someone lightly chimed a bell at you instead of just saying "excuse me". Well, at least here in Europe I’d have to spend a decent amount of time deciding which language to use.

I'm also in Europe, and I always just either say the equivalent in the local language, or just use english. Even in the smallest most remote villages, you'd be pretty hard pressed to find someone who doesn't know the word "sorry".

I’ve found that speaking the wrong language often results in people freezing up as they process what I just said to them, that’s often counterproductive.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#304

Post by arjie »

eigenspace wrote: post #187
walletdrainer wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If im cycling through a shared space, I find it extremely rude to ring the bell, because it feels like I'm telling people to get out of my way, but they have just as much right to a shared path as I do. It’s certainly rude to ring the bell in a aggressive manner, but many bells are capable of producing much softer, more polite sounds. In super busy old European capitals I find that people increasingly just ride aro…

I still think that ringing bells at people is a little rude, regardless of the tone. Like imagine if you were at the grocery store, blocking the isle and someone lightly chimed a bell at you instead of just saying "excuse me". IMO if I'm in a dense pedestrian zone and I can't go around people and I can't communicate by voice, it means I'm going too fast.

It's just cultural. If there's a cultural expectation of the ring/honk it's not rude. e.g. in India people will honk as a form of active group flock behaviour but foreigners will interpret it as everyone saying "get out of my way"; but in some European countries I have seen that people use the bell (much less noisy than the typical Indian street) and it's got the same meaning. In Hawaii, if you ever honk at someone, you're going to have a fight on your hands. In San Francisco, if you honk at someone and you're on Bush Street it means you're trying to help the traffic light change (it's a team effort) but anywhere else you get anything from a gun drawn, to a brake check, to a wave in apology for missing the light by being on the phone.

Overall, cultural expectations are everything here so it's best to just "when in Rome, do as Romans do".

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#305

Post by c0n5pir4cy »

cocoto wrote: post #239

I’m sure Android and iOS could add some AI feature to let some specific noises in the headset when needed (baby cries when enabled, smoke detector alarms, bike/car bells, etc). Simply stop the music for the duration of the specific noise and replay it. That would be a cool use of AI.

So you don't even need Android or iOS for this feature and it's been a thing on certain headsets for a while; both my Sony headphones and buds do this.

It also has an integration with the phone which can add GPS awareness but it works fine without it in my experience.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#306

Post by amluto »

srejk wrote: post #300
michh wrote: post #234

Coincidentally, I bought a 12v car horn yesterday with the intent of wiring it into my ebike's power supply with a little button on my handlebars. Not because of other cyclists or pedestrians wearing (anc) headphones but because modern cars are so heavily sound-proofed they don't hear a bicycle bell anymore. A recent incident with an inattentive taxi driver in a brand new EV nearly flattening me prompted me to want t…

When I was commuting 60k/day on my bike in shitty suburban conditions, I used one of these instead - you get limited use per trip, but you can always fill it up with a CO2 cylinder/bike pump: https://www.hpvelotechnik.com/en/recumbent-trikes-bikes/acce... It is loud .

That’s a crappy pressure vessel holding 350ml of 80psi air, for about 100J of stored energy. I’m not entirely sure I’d be comfortable with that, especially anywhere with my face in the line of fire it it fails.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#307

Post by joquarky »

ahmedfromtunis wrote: post #48

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.

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

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#308

Post by falsemyrmidon »

michael1999 wrote: post #222
0x3f wrote: post #116

Do horns and bells really prevent accidents? In order for e.g. a horn to work you need enough time that the driver processes the situation and decides the horn will communicate something AND enough time for the pedestrian or whatever to process that and react to it. Generally it's a lot easier just to press the brake, and more importantly be travelling at a speed and in a manner where the brake is sufficient. Structu…

There are a lot of runners on mixed use paths wearing headphones these days. They are an absolute danger to overtaking bikes. A bell they would hear would be useful.

I suppose you feel similarly about the dangers bikes pose to cars?

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#309

Post by thenthenthen »

algesten wrote: post #259
everdrive wrote: post #231

It's hard for me to understand why people choose to walk around in public wearing headphones. I'm aware that it's incredibly common, but you put yourself at risk of theft, accident, and of course the mild hearing loss that accompanies _any_ frequent headphone usage. In the case of both theft and accident, you cannot hear your assailant coming, and miss the queues that would otherwise keep you safe.

Are you really living your life walking around thinking about the next assailant?! Must be terrifying.

Where I used to live it was smart not to wear headphones, being it for muggers, drunk drivers, random shootings or crazy dogs. It was not a chill place no.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#310

Post by kfarr »

michh wrote: post #234

Coincidentally, I bought a 12v car horn yesterday with the intent of wiring it into my ebike's power supply with a little button on my handlebars. Not because of other cyclists or pedestrians wearing (anc) headphones but because modern cars are so heavily sound-proofed they don't hear a bicycle bell anymore. A recent incident with an inattentive taxi driver in a brand new EV nearly flattening me prompted me to want t…

If diy doesn’t work I’ve been using loud bicycle horn and it works great.

https://loudbicycle.com/

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