Anyone else think so? They sound alot smoother
A matter of being used mainly, IMO. (BTW the various sirens I heard in Germany, Denmark, France and Italy did not sound the same).
A few years ago I read about an US-style sound to be added to German police sirens (as a secondary signal, to supplement the usual “get out of my way” siren with a separate “pull up, I want to talk to you” signal). Did not hear of it (neither of the project, nor the signal itself on the road) since - possibly it was a proposal that was ultimately rejected.
One major headache, as a driver, with emergency vehicles’ sirens is IMO that it’s hard to determine the direction they come from, especially on city streets. With German sirens I usually only know from what quadrant the vehicle comes from when I can see the flashing lights. Are US sirens better or the same in that respect?
I remember seeing s TV story a coule of years ago about a city in England that had included brief spurts of “white noise” static sound into their sirens. Instead of going EEEEE ORRRRR EEEE ORRRR they would sound like EEEEEEE chsk chsk ORRRR EEEE chsk chsk ORRRR. Apparently this helped overcome the directional problem. I haven’t heard any more of it since, though.
British sirens, that used to go “NEE NAW NEE NAW NEE NAW” have changed over to the US style “WOOOOOOOOooooooooWOOOOOOooooooo” or “WOoWOoWOo” in the past few years because (IIRC - it was a few years ago), it’s easier to pinpoint where the continuous note is coming from by ear.
For a few years back in the Sixties, Nashville used to have police sirens that sounded just like what I had always heard associated with the SS in Germany. They were hideous.
They do use those white noise sirens here, yes. All over the country AFAIK, not just one city. They tend to drive along with the usual siren (which as jjimm notes uses a range of US-style woo-woo sounds these days rather than nee-naw nee-naw), but sometimes they will use the mode where it includes bursts of white noise. I guess when they they’re passing through some particularly busy traffic?
That would make sense, and also when approaching junctions, when the sound of ordinary sirens echoes off buildings into adjoining roads far more than the white noise. Or at least more than the white noise is perceived to. Or something. Maybe they could use a duck’s quack?
Too much sustain. And nobody knows why.
Too few here seem to recognize the crisp, succulent Chilean siren (UUU EEE UUU EEE), which leaves a clean aftertaste, and is reminiscent of a delicious siesta in 1930s Madrid.
Most of our newer ambulances have the Euro-style high-low as an option on the siren. I use it all the time!
St. Urho
Paramedic
Waylon Jenings.
Bill Bailey - Foreign Ambulance Sirens (youtube)
I remember hearing them in a “Snoopy Goes to France” kinds of movie when I was sick as a kid once, and I liked them better than the US ones from that moment on.