Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > The Academy > Tilted Knowledge and How-To


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 12-13-2010, 09:59 PM   #1 (permalink)
Psycho
 
CoachAlan's Avatar
 
Location: Las Vegas
If a watch beeps in a crowded ballroom

If I were on one side of a crowded ballroom, and my nerdy friend wearing a digital watch were on the other, and his watch beeped, would it actually make a sound?

What I mean is, obviously if the room were empty I'd be able to hear his watch beep clear as could be. However, with all the extra noise in the crowded room, it would be impossible to hear. But what I had some sort of hearing disorder so that I could only hear sound in the exact frequency of the watch beep? Would I then hear the beep, or would the sound be destroyed by interference from all the other sound in the crowded room? Would the air be too turbulent to carry his sound to my unfortunately infirmed ear?
__________________
"If I cannot smoke cigars in heaven, I shall not go!"
- Mark Twain
CoachAlan is offline  
Old 12-14-2010, 12:34 AM   #2 (permalink)
The Reforms
 
Jetée's Avatar
 
Location: Rarely, if ever, here or there, but always in transition
I don't think the human ear works like a radio transmitter.
There's no variable-valve tuning we can do, nor pitch elevation increase/decrease; all we can really control is the occasional maintenance and gunk clean-up.
While it is a fascinating process in learning exactly how the human ear works, it's by no means the animal kingdom's most refined example, and our own range in audible discernability is quite miniscule in comparison to other common comparables (a dog, a cat, the goldfish, a pigeon, a snake, etc.).
There are limits and outer-limits to which sound, frequency of, & decibel rating we can tune into, and which have abslutely no effect on us,
(meaning we can never hear, or even perceive a noise is being produced, despite that there is one, and other animals can detect it, while we, sadly, remain oblivious to it) or other higher scalings, which may exert the potential to seriously harm, if not fatally injure, us, depending on the root cause, and sheer force to what it is we are hearing (like a shooting gallery taking place in your kitchen).


On the short side of the scale to your hypothetical point of inquiry: I say, no, you cannot hear the digital wristwatch alarm beeping from across the room, if given there is a gathering cloister of people in the room, they are socially well-adjusted (re: talking) and there may be an ambiance filter in the room as well (the televised golf tournament, or some Dance Party Mix CD '96 playing in the background).

Perhaps if in the hypothetical everyone was silent, not moving, and/or sitting down and stationery, you could hear the beeping. But, if you were to remove the variables, and also to assume that there were a fair and common number of persons (as defined by the type of shindig you were attending) and space in-between (say, 10 people and about 20-25 feet away, at minimum) you and the friend with his ill-timed calculator-watch alarm, there could still be a chance your anticipatorily-awaiting ears will not be perceptive enough to notice anything, due to the interference, (soundwaves would bounce and disperse off the bodies, getting easily jumbled) and also due to the distance in relation.

There's also no real accounting for how crappy your buddies beeping watch really is. What, did he find it at the bottom of his cereal box? How do you even know how loud his watch alarm can really be, if it only has the one setting, (most do) and is fixed just so loud, and for a defined period of time (maybe 1-3 min., on average) that it reaches the one wearing the watch, in his/her immediate vicinity, and outwardly spreads the beeping only so far that it does not become a nuisance to others. All of these factors weigh into your imagined scenario, and while it might be a tad bit diverting to think of all the variables, I say you just opt for a few field tests to see what you, yourself come up with, and report back.


What do you say?
__________________
As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves.
Mohandas K. Gandhi
Jetée is offline  
Old 12-14-2010, 12:50 AM   #3 (permalink)
Currently sour but formerly Dlishs
 
dlish's Avatar
 
Super Moderator
Location: Australia/UAE
you'd have to study acoustics to truly understand this question. Ive studied acoustics as part of my degree, but you'll need an engineer or better yet an acousitic engineer to give you an exact answer.

however, going by what you've given us, no you wont hear it.

ive built ballrooms, so i know a little about them. ballrooms are designed to absorb sound so that other people in the hotel are not affected from sound and vibration. What you will see in a ballroom is soft furnishings ( ie. carpet, soft furniture, plasterboard walls, sound insulating ceilings, canvas paintings etc) that will absorb the sound vibrations from music or peoples voices.

Obviously soft furnishings are generally excellent absorbers of sound as opposed to hard surfaces like tiles and concrete walls. The more things you put in a room, the less echo you will generally have. The last thing you want in a ballroom would be an echo because of the music. any musician could tell you this anyways.

in short, even if it was just you and your friend in the room it would be difficult to hear. but that would depend on the size of the room as well as the distance away from him and the materials used to construct the ballroom.

with all the other variables it would be almost impossible i'd say.

why do you need to hear the beep anyways? is it some sort of wingman signal?
__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy
dlish is offline  
Old 12-14-2010, 04:57 AM   #4 (permalink)
Asshole
 
The_Jazz's Avatar
 
Administrator
Location: Chicago
I think you could hear it unless there was another noise of a nearby frequency at the same time (which is entirely possible with voices and possibly fork-and-knife-on-plate noises). But for the sake of argument, let's assume that it was a ballroom full of men with deep voices and no other high-frequency sound producers.

Think of the triangle in an orchestra - it's not a loud instrument, but it's one that can definitely be heard above the sound of the rest of the instruments. That's because none of the other instruments are making sound in same range as the triangle. Assuming that there's no sound interference from another source, it's entirely possible that you could hear your friend's digital watch go off. There are a lot of assumptions in that statement, I'll admit, but here's a bald fact - your friend should invest in a real watch if he's going to places like ballrooms.
__________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo
The_Jazz is offline  
Old 12-14-2010, 05:02 AM   #5 (permalink)
Tilted Cat Head
 
Cynthetiq's Avatar
 
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
Quote:
The Grand Central Whispering Gallery
The "whispering gallery" is located on the Grand Central Terminal dining concourse near the famous Oyster Bar & Restaurant. Here, the acoustics of the low ceramic arches can cause a whisper to sound like a shout. Sound impossible? To test it out, you and a friend will have to stand in opposite corners of the large arched entryway. Now face the corner and whisper. Your friend should be able to hear your voice as if you were right next to them, not whispering into a far-away corner.

According to experts, this happens because the whisperer’s voice follows the curve of the domed ceiling. The Whispering Gallery is a popular spot for marriage proposals – and a unique place to whisper sweet nothings to your main squeeze.
you'd definitely hear it if the room was shaped like this. Oddest thing this gallery. I love playing with it when I'm in Grand Central Terminal.
__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.
Cynthetiq is offline  
Old 12-14-2010, 11:15 AM   #6 (permalink)
Banned
 
Zeraph's Avatar
 
Location: The Cosmos
I'd say yes, though it'd be a bit distorted. Just think of the silent dog whistles. They hear those things far far away and they have much more sensitive hearing than us. They hear it even when its noisy.
Zeraph is offline  
Old 12-14-2010, 08:01 PM   #7 (permalink)
Psycho
 
CoachAlan's Avatar
 
Location: Las Vegas
What I'm proposing here is simply a hypothetical. Dlish sort of gets what I'm asking, and I'm surprised to learn that even if the room were empty, there's a good chance I wouldn't hear the beeping simply due to the design of the room.

Maybe a better hypothetical would've been that my friend and I are across a crowded cafeteria. The Jazz's answer addresses this somewhat. I'd venture to say that I could readily hear a watch beeping across a cafeteria, as long at it was otherwise totally quiet. For the sake of argument, let's assume that my friend's watch is loud enough to hear under otherwise quiet conditions.

Or, easier still, let's imagine that I have a recording device with a microphone that is tuned to the exact frequency of my friend's watch; say 15000 hertz. In the empty room, my friend's watch beeps twice, and the recorder in my hand picks up the beeps at a barely audible 15 decibels.

Now, if we fill the room with people having lunch, and I again turn on my recorder which only picks up sounds at exactly 15000 hertz, will it hear the watch? Will it be at 15 decibels? What if there are other sounds at nearby frequencies, or at resonant frequencies; will those distort or destroy the sound of the beep? Will the sheer turbulence of the air prevent the sound from reaching across the room, akin to shouting into the wind?
__________________
"If I cannot smoke cigars in heaven, I shall not go!"
- Mark Twain
CoachAlan is offline  
 

Tags
ballroom, beeps, crowded, watch

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:48 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360