8 ms·

Does it sound different than other sounds a phone usually makes? I imagine that unless it is carefully designed, the reaction could be "what is that"?

by mongol 5y ago

anticensor 5y ago
No, usual notification sound, cannot be DNDd but can be silenced by setting the default notification tone as silent.
- AnssiH 5y ago
  According to a graphic in the OP article there are different types of mobile alerts depending on the earthquake strength, only the strongest ones triggering an actual Wireless Emergency Alert.
JetAlone 5y ago
Pretty good design predilection nonetheless. The one in Japan is very distinctive.
tkgally 5y ago
I don’t know what it sounds like in California, but in Japan, where I live, it’s unmistakable: a very loud buzz followed by a female voice saying firmly—in Japanese, at least on my phone— “It’s an earthquake,” repeated over and over. I’ve experienced it maybe a dozen times over the past ten years. (I’ve felt earthquakes much more frequently here than I did in California, where I grew up.) Two or three times it has woken me up in the middle of the night, and I was able to get up and move away from the dresser that's right next to my futon and could conceivably tip over on me. (I shouldn't be sleeping there, I know.) Several times I was near other people—on a commuter train, in a meeting, walking along a sidewalk—when multiple phones sounded the alarm at the same time. Once or twice, I’ve been on a train that stopped suddenly with an automated announcement coming over the loudspeaker saying “Emergency stop! Earthquake.” Once I felt fairly strong shaking after the train had stopped, so the advance warning might have prevented a derailment. Maybe half the time no perceptible shaking has followed the alert, either because I was too far away from the affected area or because it was a false alarm. One such false alarm occurred on July 29, 2020, and the Meteorological Agency issued an apology [1, in Japanese]. There have also been at least a couple of strong earthquakes where the system didn’t go off when it was supposed to, so it’s not yet perfect. The alerts are startling but also reassuring. It’s much better to have a twenty-second warning than none at all. [1] https://digital.asahi.com/articles/ASN7Z4631N7ZUTIL01Z.html https://digital.asahi.com/articles/ASN7Z4631N7ZUTIL01Z.html
- MisterTea 5y ago
  > ... I was able to get up and move away from the dresser that's right next to my futon and could conceivably tip over on me. (I shouldn't be sleeping there, I know.) There are restraints you can buy that attach furniture to the walls with a strap. I know its sold to prevent children from attempting to turn their dresser drawers into a set of steps which when climbed tips over on top of them.
  - dmurray 5y ago
    Even my cheap IKEA bookcase came with a strap and a mount point for it. I think it would withstand a moderate earthquake, but not necessarily a child applying that level of leverage.
    - lostlogin 5y ago
      It’s worth doing. A baby was killed by a toppling tv here in New Zealand during the Christchurch earthquake. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/christchurch-earthquake-tv-crushes-sleeping-baby/2QJ42C7VXMA5ENHFSVXCDZCYHE/ https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/christchurc...
  - zikduruqe 5y ago
    https://www.charlieshouse.org https://www.charlieshouse.org And it saves lives too.
- tjpnz 5y ago
  A couple of months ago I was walking through a park late at night thinking I was alone. So it was a rather surreal experience to see phones light up everywhere around me with that woman's voice speaking in almost perfect unison. In this particular case there was a 2-3 second warning. Was one of the more violent ones Tokyo has had recently and I was rather glad to not have been inside.
- iszomer 5y ago
  Here's a good visual representation of their early warning system back in 2011.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-FMpNBfna8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-FMpNBfna8
nend 5y ago
Ever receive a flash flood warning, severe weather alert (lightning, tornado), or amber alert on your phone? It'd be the same notification. I'm sure there's others too, those are just the ones I've received before.
- bombcar 5y ago
  I’m so glad apple separated amber alerts from the emergency broadcasts. Used to get two or three a week which made it completely useless.
  - xeromal 5y ago
    On Android, I've unsubscribed from everything except presidential alerts. I had my last straw when I started getting alerts for wear a mask and other ridiculous crap.
    - MerelyMortal 5y ago
      It would be really nice on Android if I could get the alerts without the obnoxious noise. Since the noise and the alert are tied together, and I absolutely detest the noise, I have the alert turned off. It's silly that you can turn off the ring for a phone call and still get the notification, but can't turn off the alert noise without also turning off the alert notification.
      - xeromal 5y ago
        Yeah, it's supposed to be grating because it's a rare even but sending daily covid advice is honestly a waste of a good system.
    - lostlogin 5y ago
      I’ve been a supporter of the government campaigning and messaging here in New Zealand. However if this was happening I’d be most unhappy. It’s close to the Orwell ‘2 minute hate’. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Minutes_Hate https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Minutes_Hate
dtech 5y ago
Android's Emergency Broadcast is very loud and distinctive, my country tests periodically. I'm not sure if seconds before impact would be early enough for me to take action though.
- 323 5y ago
  Earthquakes tend to have a bit of a ramp up period (P wave vs S wave), I was in an earthquake once and could figure out initially what was going on, because I was experiencing the first low intensity waves. An alert would avoid this initial confusion.
themodelplumber 5y ago
FWIW this recent quake triggered a pleasant bell-chime sound on my Android phone. I hadn't heard that particular sound before. I appreciate that the warning gave me enough time to radio my kids in the house and let them know to expect something. We never felt the quake but it was good practice anyway.
teeray 5y ago
On iOS, these alerts mimic SAME tones[0]. It sounds like a brighter version of the combined attention tone with a bit of modulation. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_Area_Message_Encoding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_Area_Message_Encoding
Havoc 5y ago
Another poster above describes the sound as obnoxious so presumably not the normal ones

Does it sound different than other sounds a phone usually makes? I imagine that unless it is carefully designed, the reaction could be "what is that"?

by mongol 5y ago

Does it sound different than other sounds a phone usually makes? I imagine that unless it is carefully designed, the reaction could be "what is that"?

anticensor 5y ago

No, usual notification sound, cannot be DNDd but can be silenced by setting the default notification tone as silent.

AnssiH 5y ago
According to a graphic in the OP article there are different types of mobile alerts depending on the earthquake strength, only the strongest ones triggering an actual Wireless Emergency Alert.

JetAlone 5y ago

Pretty good design predilection nonetheless. The one in Japan is very distinctive.

tkgally 5y ago

I don’t know what it sounds like in California, but in Japan, where I live, it’s unmistakable: a very loud buzz followed by a female voice saying firmly—in Japanese, at least on my phone— “It’s an earthquake,” repeated over and over. I’ve experienced it maybe a dozen times over the past ten years. (I’ve felt earthquakes much more frequently here than I did in California, where I grew up.) Two or three times it has woken me up in the middle of the night, and I was able to get up and move away from the dresser that's right next to my futon and could conceivably tip over on me. (I shouldn't be sleeping there, I know.) Several times I was near other people—on a commuter train, in a meeting, walking along a sidewalk—when multiple phones sounded the alarm at the same time. Once or twice, I’ve been on a train that stopped suddenly with an automated announcement coming over the loudspeaker saying “Emergency stop! Earthquake.” Once I felt fairly strong shaking after the train had stopped, so the advance warning might have prevented a derailment. Maybe half the time no perceptible shaking has followed the alert, either because I was too far away from the affected area or because it was a false alarm. One such false alarm occurred on July 29, 2020, and the Meteorological Agency issued an apology [1, in Japanese]. There have also been at least a couple of strong earthquakes where the system didn’t go off when it was supposed to, so it’s not yet perfect. The alerts are startling but also reassuring. It’s much better to have a twenty-second warning than none at all. [1] https://digital.asahi.com/articles/ASN7Z4631N7ZUTIL01Z.html https://digital.asahi.com/articles/ASN7Z4631N7ZUTIL01Z.html

MisterTea 5y ago
> ... I was able to get up and move away from the dresser that's right next to my futon and could conceivably tip over on me. (I shouldn't be sleeping there, I know.) There are restraints you can buy that attach furniture to the walls with a strap. I know its sold to prevent children from attempting to turn their dresser drawers into a set of steps which when climbed tips over on top of them.
- dmurray 5y ago
  Even my cheap IKEA bookcase came with a strap and a mount point for it. I think it would withstand a moderate earthquake, but not necessarily a child applying that level of leverage.
  - lostlogin 5y ago
    It’s worth doing. A baby was killed by a toppling tv here in New Zealand during the Christchurch earthquake. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/christchurch-earthquake-tv-crushes-sleeping-baby/2QJ42C7VXMA5ENHFSVXCDZCYHE/ https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/christchurc...
- zikduruqe 5y ago
  https://www.charlieshouse.org https://www.charlieshouse.org And it saves lives too.
tjpnz 5y ago
A couple of months ago I was walking through a park late at night thinking I was alone. So it was a rather surreal experience to see phones light up everywhere around me with that woman's voice speaking in almost perfect unison. In this particular case there was a 2-3 second warning. Was one of the more violent ones Tokyo has had recently and I was rather glad to not have been inside.
iszomer 5y ago
Here's a good visual representation of their early warning system back in 2011.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-FMpNBfna8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-FMpNBfna8

nend 5y ago

Ever receive a flash flood warning, severe weather alert (lightning, tornado), or amber alert on your phone? It'd be the same notification. I'm sure there's others too, those are just the ones I've received before.

bombcar 5y ago
I’m so glad apple separated amber alerts from the emergency broadcasts. Used to get two or three a week which made it completely useless.
- xeromal 5y ago
  On Android, I've unsubscribed from everything except presidential alerts. I had my last straw when I started getting alerts for wear a mask and other ridiculous crap.
  - MerelyMortal 5y ago
    It would be really nice on Android if I could get the alerts without the obnoxious noise. Since the noise and the alert are tied together, and I absolutely detest the noise, I have the alert turned off. It's silly that you can turn off the ring for a phone call and still get the notification, but can't turn off the alert noise without also turning off the alert notification.
    - xeromal 5y ago
      Yeah, it's supposed to be grating because it's a rare even but sending daily covid advice is honestly a waste of a good system.
  - lostlogin 5y ago
    I’ve been a supporter of the government campaigning and messaging here in New Zealand. However if this was happening I’d be most unhappy. It’s close to the Orwell ‘2 minute hate’. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Minutes_Hate https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Minutes_Hate

dtech 5y ago

Android's Emergency Broadcast is very loud and distinctive, my country tests periodically. I'm not sure if seconds before impact would be early enough for me to take action though.

323 5y ago
Earthquakes tend to have a bit of a ramp up period (P wave vs S wave), I was in an earthquake once and could figure out initially what was going on, because I was experiencing the first low intensity waves. An alert would avoid this initial confusion.

themodelplumber 5y ago

FWIW this recent quake triggered a pleasant bell-chime sound on my Android phone. I hadn't heard that particular sound before. I appreciate that the warning gave me enough time to radio my kids in the house and let them know to expect something. We never felt the quake but it was good practice anyway.

teeray 5y ago

On iOS, these alerts mimic SAME tones[0]. It sounds like a brighter version of the combined attention tone with a bit of modulation. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_Area_Message_Encoding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_Area_Message_Encoding

Havoc 5y ago

Another poster above describes the sound as obnoxious so presumably not the normal ones