You know the sound. That incessant digital beeping, always at the same pitch, that just makes your hair stand on end. Every single alarm clock I have ever owned uses it. Heck, every alarm clock I’ve seen on TV does too.
Why that sound? Were there studies done for what tone/frequency is most likely to instantly wake up the average human? Is there a particular electronic part that is cheap to manufacture compared to parts that would make different tones, therefore all manufacturers use the same kind? Why a 9 minute snooze, anyway?
Recent thread, with a link, The Master Speaks.
It’s also the same beep that trucks make when backing up, (at least the same beep as my clock makes) what’s up with that?
CMC fnord!
I would bet this has more to do with it than audio-neurology or any other get-your-ass-out-of-bed-related research. It may even be that not just the buzzer part is the same. Don’t rule out the possiblity that all the different alarm clocks that you’re coming across may be made by the same manufacturer and sold under different brands. Electronics and appliance “manufacturers” have been doing that for decades, and as the recent pet food scare has shown, it’s done in other fields as well.
For what it’s worth, though, your premise (that all alarm clocks make the same sound) is flawed. I’ve never had two alarm clocks that made the same sound. The last time I replaced an alarm clock was because I had become immune to the sound it made and would turn it off in my sleep. Moving it across the room didn’t help, so I had to get something that made a worse sound.
Granted, that was 1988, and I’m still using that clock. I guess I must have chosen a pretty good one.