Skoda built a bicycle bell that can be heard through noise-cancelling headphones

Road safety is facing a new challenge with more people using noise-cancelling earphones and headphones. This makes it difficult for cyclists to alert pedestrians. To solve this exact issue, automaker Skoda has introduced DuoBell.

As the name suggests, it is a bicycle bell that can be heard through active noise cancellation on any wearable audio device. It has been developed in collaboration with the researchers at University of Salford.

Skoda DuoBell makes cycling safer on busy streets

The Skoda DuoBell is said to produce sound at a specific frequency range between 750Hz to 780Hz. This blind spot was discovered by Skoda and scientists at the university that most ANC headphones and earphones cannot fully block. So there is a chance that the DuoBell’s ring can still reach pedestrians even if they’re listening to music with ANC enabled. 

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The Skoda DuoBell has a second resonator that produces a higher pitch sound. There’s also a specially designed hammer mechanism that creates quick and uneven ringing instead of a steady tone. This combination makes it harder for the noise cancellation system to track and block.

In lab and real-world tests, the automaker highlighted its effectiveness with pedestrians wearing ANC headphones and hearing cyclists coming up to 22 meters away giving additional reaction time. 

This Skoda DuoBell remains simple and is completely mechanical. It doesn’t require any battery or electronics and can be used like a regular bicycle bell.

The Skoda DuoBell is currently a prototype and it may not hit the market soon. The research is expected to be made public for future bicycle safety innovations.

While audio devices also come with transparency mode, it is not always reliable in real-world use. Not everyone keeps it turned on and it may still not fully alert the user with sounds like a bicycle bell. 

Stay tuned to Unboxed by Croma for more tech updates.