Sound & Signal
Church bells, factory horns and the acoustic clock
Before everyone carried a clock, time was distributed through sound. The infrastructure for that is mostly silent now.
Sound & Signal
Noises, tones and interruptions that used to structure a day.
21 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 1 of 2
Sound & Signal
Dial-up, and the sound of a machine negotiating
The handshake tone was an audible protocol negotiation. For a decade it was the sound of the internet arriving in a house.
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Sound & Signal
The engaged tone and the information a failed call used to give you
A busy signal told you someone was home and on the phone. Every replacement gives you less than that did.
Sound & Signal
The office that sounded like machinery
Typewriters, teleprinters and adding machines made offices loud, and the noise was information about who was working on what.
Sound & Signal
From one bell in the hall to a sound that means only you
A ringing telephone once summoned a household. Personal ringtones turned the same signal into a private address, then made it…
Sound & Signal
Closedown, static and the sound of nothing being broadcast
Television used to end, and after it ended there was noise. Both the ending and the noise have gone.
Sound & Signal
The shutter sound that is now a file the phone plays on purpose
A camera click was the sound of a mechanism moving. On a phone it is a recording, kept partly for reasons of law.
Sound & Signal
Quiet cars and the noise engineers had to add back
Electric vehicles were too quiet to be safe at low speed, so regulators required them to make a sound. Somebody had to decide what…
Sound & Signal
The pips and the last time a country checked its clocks together
Radio time signals distributed accurate time to whole populations. Networked clocks made them redundant and left them broadcasting…
Sound & Signal
The announcer on the platform and the voice that was assembled from parts
Station announcements were made by a person watching the same trains you were. Recorded voices are clearer, and know nothing.
Sound & Signal
Piped music and the sound that was designed not to be listened to
Background music in shops and offices was engineered with specific psychological intentions. It has largely been replaced by…
Sound & Signal
The till, the coins and the sound money used to make
Payment was audible: a drawer, a bell, coins counted onto a counter. Cashless transactions are silent, and the silence is doing…