I’m asking not specifically about smoke detectors but any device that beeps but does not make any other, non-beeping sounds. Examples include microwaves, the timers on ovens, the fare system on a bus when you give it your fare, the little beepy heart monitor things in hospitals and old-school digital watches. These things beep but they seem to only beep; they do not make any other, non-beeping sounds.

So my question is: how do these things beep? It must be a speaker right (?), and if it is a speaker then why do these devices never make any other sounds other than beeping? (Because presumably speakers have a greater range than just a few beeps.) Or do these devices have specialized speakers that can only make a few sounds? If so, how do these speakers work?

I’m not sure if I articulated this very well but hopefully that makes sense.

  • Ephera@lemmy.mlEnglish
    4·
    18 hours ago

    I would guess that the units used in smoke alarms and microwaves generally have integrated drivers that only operate at a single frequency.

    Yeah, you could more easily create a rhythm than a full melody. If you get a few devices, which beep at different frequencies each, you could do a lot more by having them beep in succession and in intervals.

    Of course, this requires that they’re roughly in tune, which may not be the case at all. 🥴