7 Types of Police Siren Sounds (And What They Are Used For) (2024)
Police vehicles have been using sirens as a way of communicating to the public as well as other officers on duty for decades now. While being primarily used to alert pedestrians and other car-bound civilians of the urgency of which the police officer is traveling, other less immediate situations warrant the use of a police siren.
What are the different types of police sirens? And how do you tell the difference between these sirens?
There is more than one type of police siren, these sirens, or sounds, are as follows: Yelp, Wail, Hi-Lo, Power Call, Air Horn, Piercer, and Howler. These different types of police siren sounds not only help officers distinguish between each other when multiple emergency services are in the same area but also serve different purposes when not congested together.
What are the origins of police sirens?
Police sirens have been in use since the early 1960s where they replaced silver bells, usually mounted somewhere in the front of the police vehicle. In fact, according to igg.org.uk,
“Police and other emergency vehicles were fitted with silver bells, mounted singly or in pairs, usually low down at the front of the vehicle, usually off-set to the right or left (fire engines often had them on the roof). The bells were replaced by sirens from 1963 when rotating blue lights appeared. The police are as constrained by the law as anyone else (more so in many ways) and the law stated the position the blue light had to be in and that it had to rotate.”
Police sirens were invented in the late 18th century. The Scottish Natural philosopher John Robinson invented the siren and attempted to implement it as a musical instrument in the year 1790, though due to its harsh, shrill tone, it was not used in the musical world for long.
The name siren comes from Greek mythology, a siren was a beast that was said to lure sailors in with their beautiful singing to ultimately take them to their deaths. Unlike sirens from this mythology, the siren created by John Robinson was not quite the beautiful sound they were looking for.
The original siren invented used a crank that produced the sound when cranked continuously, releasing a piercing and brassy sound when used.
Are There Different Types of Siren Sounds?
Although the average person generally wouldn’t recognize the difference between the varying siren sounds, there are a few distinct sounds that are used in modern siren devices. The different sounds of police sirens vary in frequency, tone, decibels, speed, and sound depending on their urgency and purpose. Here are the different siren noises:
Wail
The wail sound slowly alternates between a Hi-Lo unbroken tone. It is considered one of the most commonly used tones by police officers and other law enforcement agencies alike. This wail sound gives off a slow but piercing sound like a (woooooOOOOooooo) style noise.
Although still urgent, it is designed to be used in different circ*mstances such as alerting traffic to give the right-a-way, inform civilians that they are being pulled over for traffic violations, and providing another sound to ensure that they can stand out from other emergencies services in the general area.
Yelp
The yelp, like the wail, alternates between the Hi-Lo tone. The difference is that it does so rapidly, informing those around them that they must provide the needed right-a-way, get to safety, or assist in making an emergency stop.
This yelp sound generates a (woo-WOO-woo-WOO) when activated by the police officer. The main reason this noise is used is to show the urgency in which the officer is needing to proceed. It should be considered serious and pedestrians and road users should immediately move out of the way.
HI-Lo
The Hi-Lo siren is not so similar to the Yelp and Wail sounds as it does not bring the same “urgency” to the situation. Although this is a commonly used sound by police officers, it is used in alternation with the yelp and wail sounds to better help distinguish between other emergency vehicle sirens or even when performing a traffic stop.
This Hi-Lo sound produces an (ee-oo-ee-oo) style sound and although noticeable, isn’t used as frequently as the yelp and wail are.
Air Horn
This air horn sound is quite interesting. Although it is not often used anymore in cop cars – it was all but replaced by the yelp, wail, and other sounds – it is one of the only pneumatically powered sirens on the modern mechanical siren systems used today. This means that when all the other electronic sounds are not able to be used, this pneumatically powered siren can be.
The air horn rises quickly in tone and volume, then slowly gets quieter again. This is similar to the emergency horns used by the local fire departments and other likewise buildings to alert whole towns of impending dangers. It is a long and piercing sound so when it is heard it is known by all.
Power Call
The power call is also not as frequently used – yelp, wail, and Hi-Lo have all but taken over as the primarily used sounds – this sound has a very monotonous tone to it. This kind of police siren sound remains the same in tone and frequency and makes a (woo-woo-woo-woo) sound.
Howler
The howler sounds similar to the wail however, it does have a notable low-frequency tone designed to be felt near the police vehicle operating it. For instance, in urban areas if a police officer is in heavy traffic and the cars directly surrounding them haven’t quite noticed they were trying to get by, this low-toned howler sound can greatly assist them in getting their attention by producing this sound. Allowing all surrounding them to feel it as well as hear it.
Piercer
Finally, the piercer sound imitates the yelping sound but due to its higher frequency and more rapid delivery, it is better suited to be used in smaller, more urban environments. Especially in heavy traffic or other likewise settings.
What Are the Different Types of Sirens Used For?
The primary functions of police sirens are to alert civilians and other vehicles on the road of an impending emergency that requires them to give police officers the right-a-way. In other cases, these sirens could be used for quite a few other situations also. Here is a list of some of the most important scenarios sirens are used for:
Routine traffic stops – These traffic stops are not always followed by sirens when a police officer is signaling to a driver to pull over. Instead, they may use their warning lights if they believe this is enough to grab the driver’s attention. Moreover, if the driver has not immediately been alerted it is very possible to use the siren to make them aware of the situation.
High-speed pursuits – when on a high-speed pursuit the road is always safer when there are no other vehicles. However, this is seldom the case. Using your sirens could mean keeping civilians out of harm’s way or potentially causing accidents. Sirens are a major factor in getting cars on the road to pull over or make way during these situations.
Traffic safety – have you ever seen police directing traffic during a car crash on the road? They don’t always use sirens to do so but it has been needed from time to time to help alert drivers that are in a blind spot to the accident. Without the siren, they might have added to the already existing accident.
Vehicle escorts – vehicle escorts could mean escorting anyone from the president or government officials to civilians with a broken-down vehicle just trying to get off of the road. Whatever the case, using sirens in this scenario alerts everyone around that they are in the vicinity and need the right-a-way. Partnered with their warning lights this makes for a good combo to keep everyone alert to their presence and help them get off the road safely.
Emergency calls – We did just touch on this, but I thought it would be good to provide some details. If a police officer is called to a hit and run, robbery, murder, or any other serious call, they need to be able to get there as fast as possible. Using the wide range of their sirens to alert everyone around them that they need to go mixed with their warning lights is generally considered enough to do the trick and have them on their way, even in congested traffic.
Types of Police Sirens – Final Thoughts
Police sirens are used for a multitude of functions and situations. Without them, they would likely not get very far, and the purpose of a police officer might be mostly null. They need to be able to get where they are going to serve and protect the communities they work for. The different types of police sirens used are by far one of the most important tools in their arsenal and they are certainly better off with them. Just imagine seeing police officers driving around with a bell attached to their police car instead of the sirens! That would be a sight to see.
Related Articles
10 Different Types of Police Jobs
What are the Different Types of Police Cars?
Types of Police Dogs: 6 Breeds that Serve and Protect
There are two different tones used by Outdoor Warning Sirens: Attack: The signal for enemy attack is a rising and falling tone heard for 3 minutes. Civil Emergency: The signal for a civil emergency (such as a tornado) is a steady wail heard for at least 3 minutes.
There are two different tones used by Outdoor Warning Sirens: Attack: The signal for enemy attack is a rising and falling tone heard for 3 minutes. Civil Emergency: The signal for a civil emergency (such as a tornado) is a steady wail heard for at least 3 minutes.
Police sirens combined three main sounds, different situations tend to use different voices. For example, when the situation urgent and law enforcement officers need to arrive quickly, Shouting/siren sounds will be appear；Relative sounds of sirens also be appear if drivers or passerby should give away.
The Seven Sirens are a group of enigmatic Sirens who are secretly the rulers of Paradise Island, residing underground. They are responsible for the kidnapping of the Half-Genies during the Half-Genie Festival, and are the eponymous main antagonists in Shantae and the Seven Sirens.
In short, it means that something life-threatening is happening and you should go indoors and get more information. The specific guidelines (tornado, hail ,wind, etc.) for sounding sirens varies by jurisdiction, so check with your local community to find out the specifics if you are interested. 2.
The use of police sirens is to alert a community that a cop is on their way to a call. By sounding their sirens, and activating lights, cops are asking for the right of way. If an officer is traveling to a call at a high rate of speed, they will usually use a wail/yelp siren sound.
“The wail siren is the most common siren that people hear,” Montiero said. “This is a high-low, elongated frequency that is used for your generic vehicle response.
Yelp. This is a sound that rapidly alternates between high and low sounds, as is one of the two commands most readily available on the majority of siren command boxes. ...
If the lights are on but there is no siren, it could be that there is an ongoing crime and officers do not yet wish to alert the perpetrator of their presence. Another possibility is that, though an officer is headed to an emergency, there is no traffic on the road that needs to move out of the way.
Code 3's Pursuit™ Siren is a massive technological leap forward from previous siren models. A multi-voltage, fully regulated dual-channel 200W Class-D digital amplifier, the Pursuit™ Siren is smaller, lighter, more efficient and more versatile than older transformer coupled designs.
The National Weather Service has determined two weather conditions for siren use. A steady tone, lasting 3 minutes, means a tornado watch or a severe thunderstorm watch. A wailing tone (6 sec. Hi/6 Low) lasting 3 minutes, means a tornado warning or severe thunderstorm warning.
The Shelter-In-Place (SIP) tone siren is a Fast High-Low Wail. This tone might be confused with the fire siren if you aren't aware of the faster cycling of the wail. In the event you hear the SIP tone, go inside immediately and close and lock all doors and windows.
Across the Atlantic, a 138-decibel, 180-horse power air raid siren developed by Chrysler and Bell Telephone Laboratories was introduced to US cities in 1952 and still holds the record for being the loudest siren – capable of being heard up to 25 miles away.
The sirens have an effective range of two miles in diameter. At 100 feet, the sirens are heard at 129 decibels (the equivalent sound level of a jet engine taking off). At one mile, they're heard at 70 decibels (the equivalent sound level of a normal conversation).
As the police car speeds away, the sound waves get farther apart, decreasing their frequency. The person then hears the pitch of the siren get lower. The police inside the car do not hear a change in pitch because from their position the sound waves always stay at the same frequency.
Once the ambulance passes you by, the air waves get further apart and the number of vibrations per second goes down. This makes the siren sound quieter and lower in pitch. So the sound changes from a higher pitch to a lower pitch based on where you are standing. This change in pitch is called the Doppler effect.
A quick call to Fire Chief Joe Dell explained that the 12 Noon alarm is a daily test of the alert system. It loses a few seconds each day, where the department will reset it to the correct time about every three months.
A Rumbler siren is a type of emergency vehicle siren used primarily in the United States. Developed in 2007 by Federal Signal Corporation, and sounding at a low-frequency level, it is designed to be heard by motorists who may otherwise be unable to hear high-frequency sirens due to ambient noise, such as urban traffic.
The Rumbler system senses the primary siren tone signal and reduces the signals' frequency by 75%. It then amplifies the sound through a pair of high output woofers. The system's timer allows the tone to sound for eight seconds, provides a highly effective warning, and automatically shuts off.
One of the first reasons the emergency service do this is when they have a patient on board whose condition means the sirens would cause "distress or discomfort". The ambulance will flash its blue lights for cars to give way, but will have no noise.
All clear is the signal, generally given by a civil defence siren, which indicates that an air raid or other hazard has finished and that it is safe for civilians to leave their shelters; it is commonly used in radios as well.
In ancient Greek mythology, a Siren is a hybrid creature with the body of a bird and the head of a human. Sirens are traditionally understood to be female, but similar figures with beards can be labeled either as Sirens or as daemons.
The Rumbler is no louder than a standard siren. In fact, it's quieter — 10 decibels lower, which translates to only half the volume. But because low-frequency sound waves penetrate cars better than those at a higher pitch, drivers experience the Rumbler as much louder than a standard siren.
So, one of the reasons why cops touch tail lights is to startle the person inside. The driver is likely not expecting the noise of the tap, which typically causes him or her to stop for a moment, giving the police officer additional time to witness what the driver is trying to hide (if there is anything).
Regardless, when a police officer is approaching a car to make a stop, they want to avoid the possibility that the driver will try to speed away or attempt to hide evidence. One way to help prevent this is to touch the taillight of the car before approaching the window.
Code 2: Respond to the call with emergency lights, but without sirens. Alternatively, sirens may be used if necessary, such as to make traffic yield or when going through intersections.
This is a very powerful compressed air driven siren with a sound intensity of 141 db(A). The Siren is delivered complete with mounting bracket, ½ ” coupling, reduction valve and a signal valve.
FIRE: Siren shall be wailing sound for 2 minutes. DISASTER: Siren shall be wailing sound for 2 minutes repeated thrice with a gap of 10 seconds. ALL CLEAR: Siren shall be straight run sound for 2 minutes.
Noon whistles were common in factory towns where it signaled a lunch break. Noon sirens served the same function. Both were once also used to summon volunteer firefighters to the station when needed, which was often not at noon.
"The most common tornado sound is a continuous rumble, like a nearby train. Sometimes a tornado produces a loud whooshing sound, similar to a waterfall, or the noise of open car windows while driving very fast," according to the SPC.
The tornado sirens are activated with a signal from the NWS that indicates a tornado has been spotted or is strongly indicated on a Doppler radar and/or strong, damaging winds of 70 mph or greater are present.
There are two alarm signals that may sound throughout the building. The Alert tone, (BEEP BEEP BEEP) and the Evacuation tone (WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP). The Evacuation tone, (WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP) indicates that building evacuation is required.
The evacuation alarm will now sound on the affected floor, the floor below, and the floor above. The evacuation alarm will be a slow 'whoop'. Upon the sounding of this slow 'whoop' on your floor, all occupants of the floor(s) should, without putting themselves in jeopardy: Shut down equipment.
"The Seirenes (Sirens). They were the daughters of Akhelous (Achelous) and the Mousa (Muse) Melpomene, and their names were Peisinoe, Aglaope, and Thelxiepeia." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.
Since ambulances are bigger than most law enforcement vehicles and smaller than fire trucks, their siren sounds distinctly different as well. Not all police sirens are the same. Not only are mechanical police sirens still available, but electronic police sirens can vary greatly from one manufacturer from another.
Later writers mention both their names and number: some state that there were three, Peisinoe, Aglaope and Thelxiepeia or Aglaonoe, Aglaopheme and Thelxiepeia; Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia; Apollonius followed Hesiod gives their names as Thelxinoe, Molpe, and Aglaophonos; Suidas gives their names as Thelxiepeia, ...
The National Weather Service has determined two weather conditions for siren use. A steady tone, lasting 3 minutes, means a tornado watch or a severe thunderstorm watch. A wailing tone (6 sec. Hi/6 Low) lasting 3 minutes, means a tornado warning or severe thunderstorm warning.
A civil defense siren, also known as an air-raid siren or tornado siren, is a siren used to provide an emergency population warning to the general population of approaching danger. It is sometimes sounded again to indicate the danger has passed.
What does it mean when I hear the outdoor warning sirens? In short, it means that something life-threatening is happening and you should go indoors and get more information. The specific guidelines (tornado, hail ,wind, etc.)
Siren : one of a group of female creatures in Greek mythology whose singing attracted sailors and caused them to sail into dangerous water or toward rocks.
According to Homer, there were two Sirens on an island in the western sea between Aeaea and the rocks of Scylla. Later the number was usually increased to three, and they were located on the west coast of Italy, near Naples.
According to Irish folklore, the Glostic Sisters were a pair of wandering spirits. One was a Banshee, the other a Siren. Banshee requires the youth of mortals to sustain her strength. Siren is the only one who can provide it.
If the lights are on but there is no siren, it could be that there is an ongoing crime and officers do not yet wish to alert the perpetrator of their presence. Another possibility is that, though an officer is headed to an emergency, there is no traffic on the road that needs to move out of the way.
Who is the most famous siren? Thelxiepeia (sometimes spelled Thelxiope or Thelxinoe) is the most famous siren. Her name means 'persuasive face'. References to Thelxiepeia can be found in Hesiod, Lycophron, Apollodorus, Hyginus.
Weaknesses. Bronze dagger and victim's blood – The only way to kill a siren is to stab it with a bronze dagger dipped into the blood of someone it has infected. The death of a siren releases its victims from its hold.
Introduction: My name is Twana Towne Ret, I am a famous, talented, joyous, perfect, powerful, inquisitive, lovely person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
