Intelligible alternatives to "on" and "off"?

July 31, 2024 11:56 PM

If you were a maker of headphones that are used in a noisy environment, and you would want your users to clearly hear the difference between "turned on" and "turned off", what would you choose?
posted by hananc to Technology (15 answers total)

turn on would be a chime with a bright, ascending and welcoming sound... turn off would be a heavier clunking descending sound.
posted by flamk at 12:08 AM on August 1 [4 favorites]

Non-vocal is better. The most common signalling is three beeps, rising or falling in tone for 'on' or 'off'.
posted by Stoneshop at 12:44 AM on August 1 [7 favorites]

I agree with the above 2 posters, but if words are necessary, for example because of the noisy environment, then "ready" and "turned off" would be hard to mistake.
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 1:06 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]

I’d differ the pitch of whatever words you choose.
posted by pompomtom at 2:30 AM on August 1

I use bluetooth earmuffs in a loud environment. Turning them on generates a robot saying power on but also battery medium (almost always, for some reason) and possibly bluetooth connected. Turning off just gets "power off". There's no mistaking which I'm doing due to that difference in content even if I can't tell "on" from "off".
posted by deadwax at 3:38 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]

My Shokz also say "Power On. Battery x" and "Power Off". They also have a blue LED that lights up when they're turned on and a red LED that lights up when turned off.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:10 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]

I use Bluetooth bone conduction headphones (Shokz, like hydropsyche). They say "power on" or "power off", but if I'm putting them on in an noisy environment I can't always hear the difference — I'd much prefer happy ascending beeps for on, and sad descending beeps for off. The blue/red light is good tho.
posted by Klipspringer at 4:15 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]

Anything but a high pitched beep
posted by wheatlets at 4:29 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]

The only headphones I've tried where I can tell this 100% reliably are ones that default to noise-canceling. I routinely miss all chimes/announcements (usually because I'm holding them where I can see when I press the button, but also because things get lost in busy environments or I'll be distracted af exactly the wrong moment) but any time I put those ones on I can tell whether that's active or not. Others I often end up cycling off/on at least once unless the switch itself is labeled clearly and/or there's an LED indicator.
posted by teremala at 4:29 AM on August 1

My Jabra 'phones have a bright fanfare for on, and a sad dub-dub-dub for off. More importantly, a tiny LED.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:22 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]

Three clear rising tones and three clear sinking tones. I would definitely avoid words for internationalization reasons if nothing else.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:56 AM on August 1

The only ones I've had that had distinct phrases was "power on, connecting" and "good bye", which does have ouija board vibes but at least I could tell what was happening.

We have an outdoor speaker that begs "please...charging?" and that's creepy, don't do that.

I am team rising/falling chimes.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:51 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]

I have had headphones that talk to me and I've had ones with pleasing chimes. I prefer the pleasing chimes. That said, I don't mind nice status messages like "battery fully charged" and "battery low". Just don't do what LG does and wait to mention the low battery until there are only a few minutes of use left and then repeat it every 30 seconds, making the last few minutes of battery life functionally useless.
posted by wierdo at 7:41 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]

Good bye is distinctive, but the rising intonation of power on, and the firm disconnectedness of power ... off I've noticed on a couple of models. You can do a lot with how you say those words that make them more obviously distinct.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 12:09 AM on August 2

I tend to lose bluetooth earbuds while jogging or hiking, so I've gone through a few. I really appreciate those that use a series of rising or falling tones to indicate power on or off. Some have used (heavily compressed) voice samples, and I have so much trouble distinguishing "power on" from "power off". The standout was a pair of $5 knock-off airpods I got from aliexpress, where the voice said "power on?" in rising tones, almost like a question, and said "power off" in falling tones, much as one would said "night-night." That was unambiguous!
posted by xedrik at 12:25 PM on August 2