Czech carmaker Škoda has developed a type of bicycle bell that allows a pedestrian with noise-cancelling headphones to hear it. The company, working with audiologists from the University of Salford has done this in a bid to reduce collisions between pedestrians and cyclists.
The researchers used specialised equipment with hundreds of audio signals against noise-cancelling headphones, including both over-ear and in-ear models from companies including Bose, Sony, and Apple.
Noice-cancelling headphones work by playing an inverted frequency to cancel out any noise. While they work well at most frequencies, the team at Škoda found that there were some noises that they had a hard time preventing, low frequency noises between 750 and 780 Hz. They then worked on creating a bicycle bell that could be heard at a distance even with the headphones.
The completely mechanical device is no bigger than a traditional bicycle bell. The DuoBell as Škoda calls it is named because it has another feature. It has a second resonator that releases a higher frequency, a rapid, irregular strike that cannot be picked up in time by the noise-cancelling headphones cannot pick up in time.
In tests on simulated streets, the bell could be heard 72 ft or 22 m and 5 seconds earlier, allowing a pedestrian to react and avoid a collision with a cyclist. Real world test with Deliveroo riders proved effective, with the riders saying they were happy with the results on London’s streets, Škoda said.
The bell is not for sale but the research has been made freely available. The company, which began making bicycles in 1896, says it is working with its partners to have it fitted to bikes across London.
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