Klaxons; What makes them sound like that?

Oh boy, we’re gonna have a honking good time with this video! INTENSE GRIN Ya know those old-timey car horns? The ones that go “ah-oooooga”? (that was an amazing impression, was it not?) I’ve always wondered why exactly they sound like that. I mean, it’s a pretty weird noise, isn’t it? There’s a strange sort of… modulation in the sound that I could never really explain. So… I bought one! And we’re gonna find out! But first, some background. And trivia. Because of course. That’s like this whole channel’s deal. Car horns. Why have them? Well, cars are dangerous things, and people are stupidly dangerous nearly all the time. And as a means to hopefully quell the stupidity, your car comes with a noisemaking device to serve as a warning signal to other drivers and pedestrians. You can use it to announce your presence in dangerous or ambiguous situations, or you can use it to scare loved ones as they approach your car. It also serves as a way to project anger. In fact that’s almost the primary reason we use the horn these days, isn’t it? Anyway, because horns need to be loud and cheap, the automotive world has pretty much settled on two basic designs for horns. There’s these guys, and there’s these guys. This variety or horn, the disc horn, is essentially just a robust loudspeaker that’s tuned to vibrate at a specific frequency. When 12 volts DC power is applied across its terminals, the disc moves in and out, just like the driver cone of a loudspeaker, and the result is a *honk* ing loud noise. Now, in the US anyway, your car only needs to have one of these. And you can tell if your car is in the “bare minimum” camp because the sound of the horn is a single tone. Like this. BEEP BEEEEP BEEP BEEEEEP If your car’s manufacturer has decided to splurge on you and give you a second horn, it will usually be tuned a minor third up or down from the other. Like this. BEEP beep BEEP beep When sounded together, they produce a minor chord which is perhaps more noticeable across a wider variety of situations. Or at least, that’s the theory. I think. In any case it sounds better. HONK HOOOONK (and it sounds better) The other style of horn is this style, which I will call Gary. A Gary horn, also known as a trumpet horn, is largely the same thing as our disc horn however the diaphragm sits inside this trumpet-shaped piece. The horn directs the sound out and projects it out the hole, and the most noticeable side-effect of this is that the sound of the horn becomes less harsh. Take a listen. Here’s a single-tone disc horn. BEEP BEEEEP Now a Gary horn. toot tooooot (it's more polite-sounding) And now a dual-tone disc. HONK HOOOONK (sounded angry) And now Gary. TOOT TOOOOT (it's not mad, just disappointed) I think we can agree that the Gary horn sounds a little more pleasant. At least, I think it does. Interesting note, if you were simply to alternate between a high-tone horn and a low-tone horn, you’d have a pretty good analog for an emergency vehicle siren in whatever countries use sirens that sound like that. I’d pick some out but I’m sure there would be some nuance or complication I’m unaware of and that would annoy enough of you to write comments about it which would annoy me so I won’t. So now, what... what is up with these things? Well, I suppose we should set it up so it makes a noise. I'm pretty sure they use a fair bit of current so I better use this car battery that I just have lying ar- AHOOOOOOOOOOGA Holy *honk* this think it loud! Good lord. That is… well that is something, isn’t it? Now, taking a look at this thing reveals that there’s a red plastic horn coming down to some sort of diaphragm. We can shine a light down there and see that there’s… well a diaphragm of some sort. Huh. Now on the back, this looks an awful lot like a plain ‘ol motor. And, I suppose that would make sense, as after all the way the horn sounds suggests something gets up to speed and then slows down a bit. Fun fact! This sound isn’t just associated with old timey cars you’d take down to the soda fountain and get yourself an ice cold sarsaparilla. Imagine you’re on a boat. But it’s a special kind of boat. Suddenly, you hear the sound. [AHOOGA] Dive. Dive! [AHOOGA] Dive! Surprise! You’re on a submarine! [ahooging continues in background] All submarines are legally required to have one of these to signal that they’re about to dive. I know this because the movies never lie. OK, so what makes the diaphragm move? The diaphragm needs to move in and out to make a sound--after all that is how sound works. And it appears to be driven by a motor. But… how is it moved? And why does it sound so… distinctive? Well, through the magic of buying two of them, I have an already-taken-apart one right here. This joke is never gonna get old. [metallic crash and wibble wobble] And, it’s a lot simpler than at first you might imagine. This is, in effect, a mechanical loudspeaker. The diaphragm is a stamped piece of metal, and there’s a little metal nub sticking out on the bottom. That nub engages with these bumpy teeth things on the shaft of the motor. When the motor spins, it forces the diaphragm to move in and out as the bumps on the shaft push out on the bump on the diaphragm. In a sense, the diaphragm just goes for a bumpy ride and [AH-OOOOO-GA] That’s it. It’s that simple. Now, I still don’t know why exactly the sound is as distinctive as it is. I suspect it has to do with the fact that the diaphragm is flexing, rather than simply moving in and out, and this gives it a unique tonality. Or something. Probably. Kinda like the clicking sound of a bottle cap. That click is still there even when the motor turns slowly, but once it reaches a fast enough speed, we start to hear the true tone of the horn. Then, as the motor slows after you stop honking, the pitch of the horn’s tone falls, but that clicking noise remains distinctive until it stops. At least that’s my guess. Layered sounds can be difficult to decipher, and I’m not a proctologist. This device is sometimes referred to as a Klaxon. This was originally a trade name and comes from the Greek “Klazo” meaning “to shriek”. I think there just wasn’t a Greek work for “to ahoog”. The horns didn’t have to be powered by motors, in fact there could be a hand-crank. Maybe you’ll have seen that in an old movie or something. But I’ll tell you one thing. This is much, much louder than I thought it was going to be. This would certainly be an effective horn should you put one on your vehicle. But should you put one on your vehicle? I mean, I’m not gonna say no, but also I’m not gonna say yes. It’s not quite so easy as just slapping this in where your horn was. You’d probably ... mmm, definitely damage the horn circuit. The best thing to do would be to add another horn button and run a new fused circuit through it to the horn. Trust me, you don’t want this to be your car’s primary horn. Not only is it tremendously silly, but if you should decide to replace your horns with a relay and run power through it to the horn so that you have indeed replaced your normal horn with one of these, which you should definitely consider not doing, you’re gonna draw some major attention to yourself when you lock your car. [brief AHOOG] And, your car alarm will be entirely useless as in the event of a break-in, any would-be do-gooders will simply think your car is diving below the surface. But I have better news! These things are stupid cheap. This was a whole $10. That’s it. This was literally the cheapest horn of the three I featured in this video. Now, how well are these horns gonna work in a year? Probably not at all! In fact, this one doesn’t even work all of the time out of the box! Granted, it’s taken apart right now but… you know what I mean. Are you gonna regret buying it? Probably! Will you have a hard time figuring out where to cram this bulky thing into your car? No doubt! But will you enjoy it? Honestly, if you do, well then you’re my kinda weirdo. Happy honking! ♫ shriekingly smooth jazz ♫ So, this concludes No Effort November. I’ll be back for Do Things December, but it might be a little while. I’ve been procrastinating on finishing the CED series so I still have to write… basically all of that video. But! I’ll be writing it soon. And who knows. Maybe December will start out with something just as silly as this video was. I mean, I don’t *want* it to, but when in doubt, take the silly option. It almost always works. Interesting note! If you were to simply alternate between a high tone horn and a low torn hon… ...better use this car battery that I have lying around… yeah we need to... We need to set this up beforehand [straining] I think they use a fair bit of current. So I better use this car battery that I have lying ar… dammit! So now. So. So now, what is up with this thing? OK, so what makes the diaphragm *overwhelming sound of klaxon* move? The diaphragm need… yeah that’s not gonna work, that’s way too loud. [sound of metal diaphragm against table] I pondered calling this "Untitled Klaxon Video" But then I realized that would be a lame duck move. Oh crap it's a goose! Not a duck! I really fowled up that joke HONK

Channel: Technology Connections

Views: 2,869,084

Keywords: horns, car horns, automobile horn, klaxon, technology connections, ahooooga, ahooga, awooga

Id: adD5oC2asXI

Length: 9min 6sec (546 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/daftvalkyrie]

I swear this guy is Captain Disillusion without the getup.

[u/Noice92]

Im getting a road rage in my bed , Amazing

[u/Exotic_WinRAR]

Ayyy this is the guy who blew my mind about the color brown.

[u/notjawn]

Yeah he has a great concept for videos but terrible execution. He rambles way too much. Talks in circles and just takes an excruciatingly long time to get to the point.