The Siren Board

Without going into the details, I've recently begun to regularly attend therapy sessions to help with some emotional issues I've been having for a while. This is a fairly large clinic with dozens of offices. Sitting on the floor right outside the door of each office is one of these:


(Not my photo, clinic rules forbid taking photos in the patient areas. Photo from
http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/02/11/marpa ... generator/)

At my first quick glance, they certainly looked like some sort of mechanical siren, although it never occurred to me at the time that the slanted ports likely meant it was something different. I thought perhaps they were a "panic alarm" in case something were to occur requiring orderlies or other immediate assistance, but with no opportunities to stop and study the "sirens" (Patients are required to have an escort at all times), I wasn't able to determine what exactly they were. I've been to the clinic several times, and each time I try to read the little round label on top, but most of them are badly faded, and the only way to read them would be to stop and look at them closely...again, not possible due to the required patient escort.

Finally, today, I managed to take a quick glance at one under just the right lighting conditions to read the label while walking by: "Sound Screen". A quick Google search reveals that these actually are not sirens...rather, they're mechanical white noise generators. They appear to work effectively the same way as mechanical sirens, just with the ports designed in a manner that they produce white noise instead of a tone.

I know this technically doesn't fit since it's not really a siren, but the mechanics of it still fascinate me since the two appear to be so similar...just one causes alarm, and the other causes calmness.

Actually, they aren't used to cause calmness. They help drown out ambient noises (like conversations). It's to protect your confidentiality while you are in with your doctor. Hence why they're outside the doors.

They're effective suckers, too.

Some people do use them to help them sleep, though.

uncommonsense wrote:Actually, they aren't used to cause calmness. They help drown out ambient noises (like conversations). It's to protect your confidentiality while you are in with your doctor. Hence why they're outside the doors.

They're effective suckers, too.

you're correct as to why clinics use them, but broad-spectrum noise generators can have a soothing effect on people with certain mental or physical (e.g. tinnitus) conditions. I've had mild tinnitus since I was little (15 kHz ringing in both ears) and when I've been in true anechoic chambers all I could hear was the ringing and the "thud" of my heartbeat. If I had to be in such a situation for more than a few minutes I'd wig out.

they're also used in reverberation chambers to test noise absorption materials, but I'll be damned if I can find an example of a laboratory-grade unit.

and bigloudnoise, I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. I hope things get better for you.

Sounds like that wind blowing sound effect they always use in movies.

Sorry for the bump (I never get on), but I bought one of those at Bed Bath and Beyond for around $50. Sounds like a lot but I sleep like a rock now. They have these at my psychiatrists office.

What's cool is you can also adjust the tone and the volume.

I have slight tinnitus. The way I used to deal with it before knowing what it was (too young to understand) was sleep with the TV on, which is what my grandfather does I believe to ease the ringing in his ears from ear damage received from the Vietnam war. I don't watch TV like I used to, so now my "white noise" generator is my computer with the heat sink and case fans cranked up to about 40%. DJ sleeps good now.