New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie • Hacker News Board

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#91

Post by rconti » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 6:15 PM UTC

dustym wrote: post #24

dessant wrote: post #14

I'm just glad they identified the source of the hum, many people are impacted for years by unexplainable sounds, and it is maddening. It took me and my neighbours a month to find the source of a hum that was resonating with our windows. It was torture, with midnight walks and lurking around potential sources, mapping nearby industrial sites, and questioning our sanity, while our windows were vibrating without a stop.…

Two unrelated anecdotes: 1. A few years ago I spent some time in Falmouth, MA and there was an ongoing battle over newly installed wind turbines. The humming sound was getting to people, including to the point where they were getting headaches. Some people heard it and others didn't. The locals were going to war with the initiative. This article reminded me of that and I checked in on the ordeal. Looks like they shut…

1. didn't feel like something that needed to be editorialized, but I guess WSJ disagrees.

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#92

Post by wpietri » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 6:16 PM UTC

mareko wrote: post #46

johnfn wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I lived in Nob Hill, there was a quiet long beeping sound that could be heard every couple of minutes - imagine a quiet booooop and you're pretty much there. Definitely sounded electronic. The weird thing was I could actually hear it on quiet days in a large radius in Nob Hill. It didn't seem to be localized on my house. I was never able to identify it, and searching online gave me nothing.

Could you be hearing one of the many foghorns in the bay? https://youtu.be/jJWd5eHeFY4

In the Mission I could occasionally hear foghorns, which made no sense to me. It was generally around first light in the morning. After quite a lot of digging, including making heatmaps of where ships parked, I traced it to Anchorage No 9, which is basically a parking lot for giant ships. You can see it when crossing the Bay Bridge.

More details and maps here: https://www.facebook.com/williamp/posts/10106726609193073

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#93

Post by closeparen » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 6:16 PM UTC

johnfn wrote: post #59

mareko wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you be hearing one of the many foghorns in the bay? https://youtu.be/jJWd5eHeFY4

Pretty interesting hypothesis! I don't think so, though. It was a fairly electronic sounding boop, almost like a low sine wave. A fog horn sound has more acoustic qualities to it. Also, if it was a fog horn, I don't know why it would only be audible in Nob Hill and no where else I've been in SF.

The Bay foghorns are electronic tones; they don’t sound like classic/cartoon foghorns at all.

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#94

Post by rconti » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 6:18 PM UTC

jadyoyster wrote: post #16

Lisbon also has a bridge that you can hear from miles away: one lane in each direction has a surface made of metal grating which makes a loud hum when cars drive over it. People who live nearby don't notice it (strange looks if you point it out) but I think it's sad that it's impossible to escape the constant noise in certain places.

Were just there last fall, and yeah, it's incredibly loud, both going over the bridge, and from the viewpoint, and.. well, pretty much all over I imagine. I will say, I didn't notice it from the city side, though -- perhaps because of the way the city curves away from the bridge, or because you're "underneath" the sound rather than above it.

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#95

Post by yread » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 6:19 PM UTC

forgotmyp77 wrote: post #67

yread wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your description reminded me of a similar sound on my first night on anchor with my first chartered yacht. Turns out it was a fan in our inverter that was somehow switched on and it completely drained both our batteries (wrong installation) overnight so we couldn't lift the anchor nor start the engine in the morning

how did you get out of that one?

cried a little and called the charter company. Spent the day swimming at the anchorage waiting for them to show up with a new charged battery (the old ones were so discharged they couldn't even be charged by a fresh one)

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#96

Post by wpietri » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 6:20 PM UTC

Balgair wrote: post #71

ireflect wrote: post #53

This is very similar to an Aeolian Harp, also known as a wind harp. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolian_harp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtzSm76ppS4 They are pretty cool art installations. The Golden Gate bridge may now be the largest such installation ever built!

Ok, I'm on board here. This is really cool. Yes, it cannot be a 24/7 thing, the harp/bridge is too loud. Also, putting resonances into a suspension bridge is likely to be unsafe. That said, like the chiming of church bells in a village, it may be used selectively. I can imagine some Burners quickly putting up an adjustable mechanism to have the bridge sing/chime. Something that can point into the wind correctly (to s…

You might also appreciate the Wave Organ: https://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/wave-organ

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#97

Post by master-litty » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 6:20 PM UTC

klyrs wrote: post #42

hbarka wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, yes, the “Mistakes were made” passive voice. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistakes_were_made

Excuse me??? What an uncharitable interpretation of my comment. I highlighted an example of a more catastrophic mistake, familiar to engineers, which was apparently forgotten in this case. Bridges are resonant structures; this is 100% predictable through modeling but that was not done. Sibling comments point out the Hyatt walkway (news to me, I only took first year mech eng but learned about "galloping Gertie" in ele…

What an uncharitable interpretation of their comment :)

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#98

Post by wpietri » Sat, Jun 06, 2020, 6:22 PM UTC

bitcharmer wrote: post #13

mistersquid wrote: post #8

This sounds so beautiful and desolate, reminding me of a combination of the first two tracks from Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Vol 2, disc 2, in particular "Blue Calx" and "Parallel Stripes" starting from 40 seconds. [0] Thank you for sharing. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXBAU8HsAqk

I don't think SF residents are as thrilled. It's overwhelmingly loud.