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From the "meep meep" of the smallest scooter to the "BLLLAAAAAGGGGGHHH" of the largest seagoing container vessel, vehicles seem to have horn sounds that, in an auditory way, seem to indicate their mass. Of course, nothing prevents a designer from putting a "large" sounding semi truck horn into a mini automobile, it seems one would only do this for a joke and indeed, I can imagine it would make people laugh because of the unexpected mismatch between the vehicle and its warning sound.

Are there actual engineering guidelines that drive such design decisions? Presumably, from a psychological acceptability standpoint or from safety or general human-machine interface principles?

Note to audience: I tried my best to find the most appropriate SE mini-site. We have "Sound Design" which seems to relate to music; and "User Experience" which doesn't say so but seems 100% related to software design.

Note to site moderators: A tag for usability engineering or human machine interface design would be helpful.

Mark
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Douglas Held
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Ships have loud horns because they need to be heard from far away. Because they can't stop abruptly. For cars it is less so, for scooters even less.

A car's engine isn't powerful enough to drive a shiphorn, a scooter not powerful enough to power a car horn. You can go a louder than standard, but regulations prevent manufacturers from doing so, and fines prevent people from fitting loud horns to their vehicles.

Usually horns with alternating tones are also forbidden. Very boring indeed.

Bart
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Needs to be heard (volume) within vehicle stopping distance.

paparazzo
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the mismatch between the horn sound and the size of the vehicle is a very useful way to gain attention. My Suzuki GS1000 carries a pair (!) of Italian sports car horns, tuned to two different notes, which sound like those horns used on large diesel trucks. VERY effective!

niels nielsen
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