The Ubiquitous Sound That You May Have Never Noticed

Interestingly, one of the two elevators in my dorm building had broken dings (and up/down lights) when this video came out. They've been fixed - sort of. The lights and dings now work, but regardless of the direction the elevator is travelling, the elevator dings once. This is in contrast to the elevator next to it, which dings according to specification.

I tested this at the Mall that I work at, and all elevators there makes two dings no matter what direction the elevator is going. I actually asked the maintenance department, and they said that it should make different sounds, so thanks to your video and my curiosity, the dings will now be fixed. :)

Because Why-Nerd

On BART train platforms in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are voice announcements for upcoming and arriving trains. There are two different synthesized voices, one for each direction. "Lower voice male robot" announces trains going one way, "Higher voice female robot" announces trains going the other.

"Schindler's Lifts" 😃 As a Jew, I approve.

Asaf Sagi

i definitly remember hearing the 2 different tone version growing up

Slight disagreement with lululombard. Here in the UK we do often get a chime so non-sighted people know to which side a lift has arrived if there are several. Floor and directional announcements by voice are however almost ubiquitous.

Stephen Bell

I am Registered blind but have some sight and live in the UK. And I wish this had need a standard in the UK. Most lifts only seem to use I Ding on arrival. It's very annoying. Although alot of them do speak the Direction and Floor Number now. Others simply don't... This is one of the things I loved when on Holidsy in New York earlier this year. It was especially useful in our Hotels lobby where they have 4 Lifts and was completely dark. Excellent video mate. Loving the content.

Sean Yem

3:47 "Report Suspicious Activity"... Hello.. hotline? Ummm. there's this guy... and he's going around to all the elevators and videoing them opening and closing... he's DEFINITELY up to something... " LOL

Tim Johns

I just noticed at the elevators at work, here in Switzerland. They're from Schindler (actually, the main HQ of Schindler is only a few km/miles away from here!), but they behave the same as the Schindler's Lift (pun intended ;-)) shown in the movie: "Ping¨¨" when going up or neutral, "Ping Pong" wenn going down.

MrHammond

Oops the enter key sends the message ... Anyway in Switzerland I noticed that the elevator makes just "ding" when it arrives regardless of direction. In a big shopping mall here in Germany the elevator talks and makes different chiming sounds but I didn't pay attention to the when and which.

I've noticed in one foster home in Germany that the elevator makes "ding" when it stops on it's way upwards and "ding dong" it it stops on it's way downwards.

Super cool video. I think I’d occasionally heard the double ding in the USA but not realised it correlated with down. Off the top of my head here, in New Zealand, it’s pretty common to get an “elevator arrived” ding to help locate which one in the bank arrived. But I don’t remember hearing double dings much/at all, let alone to notice it was down. I’ll have to pay more attention to the next few local elevators I take and see if there’s any up/down audible differences... Ewen PS: voice announcements in elevators are still fairly uncommon here too (but do exist in some more upmarket buildings); thankfully forced elevator musak / television / advertising is also still uncommon here.

Ewen McNeill

I'm from Denmark and i've never noticed the double 'ding' so i don't think it's a thing here, though it should be, after seeing your video.

Per 'Zapro' Jensen

6:34 - Camera operator yanking the camera, or is the camera just trying to escape?

Per 'Zapro' Jensen

I had not noticed either but then I seldom ride elevators. I wonder how well these sounds work in a building with multiple elevators close together. I know I've heard bells from multiple elevators arriving close to the same time so wouldn't that confuse someone?

R Brooks

In the UK, elevators usually just says « Lift going up » or « Lift going down » and calls out every floor without any chime

lululombard

Neeeat

evistre

There is some basic guidance on UK requirements for "passenger lifts" in "buildings other than dwellings" on gov.uk: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-to-and-use-of-buildings-approved-document-m" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-to-and-use-of-buildings-approved-document-m</a>

Ben Thrussell

Have you seen the video from Deviant Ollam &amp; Howard Payne on elevators? Really fun look at the mechanics and controls.

I may not have noticed it before, but I'll certainly notice forever after this. Also, the sheer amount of excellent puns and subtle jokes coming through of late is something I whole-heartedly support.

Kevin Kostka