This is a recording of the New Zealand pedestrian crossing signal. For a digitally generated recreation, go to https://freesound.org/s/474366/.
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New Zealand uses ‘Audible Tactile Traffic Signals’ at almost all of their light-controlled pedestrian crossings to aid visual- and hearing-impaired pedestrians, letting them know when the pedestrian light is green and it’s safe to cross.
There are two parts to the audible component: the locating signal and the crossing signal.
The locating signal assists vision-impaired people in finding the pedestrian push-button. This “consists of a short pip (25 ms of 1000 Hz square wave) repeating every 1.8 seconds.” (NZTA Road Traffic Standards)
The crossing signal indicates that the pedestrian crossing signal is green and that the pedestrians may cross. This consists of a square wave which “descends exponentially in pitch from 3,500 Hz to 700 Hz over 115 ms. This is immediately followed by a rapidly pulsing sinusoidal 500 Hz signal that decays over 35 ms, before ceasing momentarily and being repeated at 8.5 times a second for the duration of the cross signal.” (NZTA Road Traffic Standards)
The volume of the audible signal responds to ambient sound levels. i.e. When nearby traffic is louder, the signal is louder, but when the environment is quiet, signal noise is lowered accordingly.
Recorded with a Zoom H4n Pro in Auckland, New Zealand.
Type
Wave (.wav)
Duration
0:58.442
File size
16.1 MB
Sample rate
48000.0 Hz
Bit depth
24 bit
Channels
Stereo
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