Musical street
A musical road (English: musical road ) - sometimes also referred to as singing road designated - is a road having a when traveling vibration generated, in turn, on the wheels is transmitted into the vehicle interior as audible tone sequence. In this way a musical street can "play" songs. While some musical roads are designed for pleasure, others should encourage the attention of road users to avoid accidents.
technology
There are different techniques for generating the vibration: either small bumps are made on the road ( e.g. marker buttons or vibrating strips ), or grooves are scratched or pressed into the road surface. The changing distance between the elevations or grooves causes different pitches. The intended melody usually sounds most pleasant at a certain driving speed; so the effect can also be used for speed control.
distribution
Musical streets can be found in several countries including Denmark, Japan, South Korea, the United States, China, San Marino, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and Ukraine. Here are some examples.
Denmark
The first known musical street, the "Asphaltophon" (Danish: Asfaltofon ), was laid out in October 1995 in Gylling, Østjylland, Denmark by Steen Krarup Jensen and Jakob Freud-Magnus, two Danish artists. The asphaltophone consists of marker buttons.
Japan
When Shizuo Shinoda accidentally scratched the road surface with a bulldozer , he noticed that melodies could be created depending on the depth and distance of the scratches. In 2007 the Hokkaido National Industrial Research Institute refined Shinoda's concept to create a "Melody road".
As a result, several 250 m long Melody roads were built: the first in Hokkaido , another in the city of Kimino in Wakayama , another in Shizuoka Prefecture on the Fuji Road , and a fourth in the village of Katashina in Gunma Prefecture . All these musical streets consist of grooves in the pavement, the width and spacing of which vary. Some of these roads provide stereo sound by having different grooves for the left and right wheels of the vehicles.
In 2016 there were already over 30 Melody roads in Japan.
Netherlands
At Jelsum in Friesland , a “singing road” was set up to limit the speed, which played the Frisian hymn De âlde Friezen . After complaints from the annoyed residents, the experiment was ended after a week.
South Korea
The first South Korean “Singing Road” is near Anyang . Similar to Japan, grooves were made in the pavement. The aim was to keep road users alert and alert and thus avoid accidents. The Singing Street plays the song Mary Had a Little Lamb .
In 2010 there were three singing streets in South Korea.
United States
The "Civic Musical Road" in Lancaster (California) was laid out on September 5, 2008. The grooves in the asphalt created the finale of the overture from Rossini's opera Wilhelm Tell . However, on September 23, 2008, the grooves were removed after complaints from local residents.
After renewed complaints about the removal of the grooves, the "Civic Musical Road" was laid out again at another location. The action was named after the Honda Civic and was used for advertising purposes for the car. However, the distance between the grooves was not calculated correctly, so the piece of music is only indistinctly recognizable.
Hungary
In 2019, a 500-meter-long section on the R67 between Mernye and Mernyeszentmiklós was created in memory of the late singer Cipő , the popular pop band Republic there. At 80 km / h it generates the melody of the band's song A 67-es út .
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Asphaltophone - road melodies on YouTube . Irene Thyrri, October 1995
- ↑ Japan's melody roads play music as you drive . Bobbie Johnson, The Guardian , November 13, 2007
- ↑ "This is mental torture" . Spiegel Online , April 10, 2018
- ^ Singing Streets and Melody Roads . Joohee Choo, Rebecca Lee, ABC News, November 29, 2007
- ^ Musical Road Hits Sour Notes With Neighbors ( Memento from January 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). CBS Los Angeles, September 20, 2008 (English)
- ↑ Why California's Musical Road Sounds Terrible on YouTube. Tom Scott, October 16, 2017