In potentially-dangerous-animal country (e.g. grizzly bears, mountain lions, etc), it could be a safety mechanism...I was told repeatedly you need to make some kind of distinctive noise regularly so they won't get startled by you rounding a bend.
Mountain lions are avoidant at all times unless it's a mother with cubs and even then they'll let you know well in advance.
Otherwise, just normal conversation, your smell with even a light breeze, and the vibrations on-trail will alert all animals to your presence.
In other words, the "trail music" theory is bullshit. They just want to listen to their music.
In some parks, there use is required by-law.
Given that they've been in continuous use for centuries I question the conclusion that they're not effective, but I'm open to altering my opinion backed-up with data.
> Bear bells may be a popular item to put on your backpack, but they don’t effectively warn a bear you’re in the area. Bears won’t hear the bells until you’re too close. Yelling, clapping, and talking are more effective ways of alerting a bear to your presence.
https://www.backpacker.com/stories/ask-a-bear-do-bear-bells-...
> In the most advanced testing, bear biologist Tom Smith jingled bear bells in varying volumes in front of brown bears in Katmai National Park. Regardless of how vigorously he shook, 15 different sets of bruins ignored the bells. And yet they snapped at attention the second he broke a pencil in half.
It's not that the bells definitively have zero value, but their effectiveness has been questioned enough that there's been a shift in opinion about them over the last couple of decades.
Actually sometimes they stalk people but I guess that's neither here nor there because bear bells aren't going to help in that situation.
There was a recent death in our "backyard" though https://vt.co/news/us/details-emerge-solo-hiker-killed-by-mo... that was, clearly, the result of a planned attack by a teenage male so, perhaps, their behavior is changing.
Still, it's so rare, we don't have enough modern data.
that's like harley riders with unmuffled motors "for safety".
On the other hand, I remember being in japan and watching some construction vehicles in tokyo. They were surprisingly quiet. After a while I realized what it was - in the united states all construction vehicles have these annoying "beep-beep-beep" sounds while they're working (for safety).
I wonder if one day they can play those only when someone walks nearby or play in some technologically quieter way.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BljL3XO0fyg&pp=0gcJCTIBo7VqN5t...
If it’s noise cancelling it sounds amazing.
Can you further expand?
Actual cri du lynx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtsdVQWGibQ
We don’t want people run over by reversing vehicles, but also, if I had to listen to that every day, I’d leap in front of them.
Should only be while they're backing up. It signals to anyone around that the vehicle is in reverse. At least the ones I'm familiar with.
I'm not going to watch the video linked in sibling comments right now, but "pulsing loud static" is a pretty common alternative to beeping around me; especially in the big citie. Kind of a big shush shush noise: sometimes it sounds a little like hydraulics working which is fine because if you hear those, something big is happening and you should pay attention.
Anyway, the real nice thing is it's loud and attention catching near the source, but it seems to disipate faster than beeps, so you don't really hear it when it's not relevant.
As an upside, your better get good at hill climbing as freewheeling or backpedaling up hill takes some practice.
(I have an ebike, so this is especially important. Mine is a legal one: 25 km/h max, 250 W, etc. If yours is faster, this is even more important.)