Whistle

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Whistle

A whistle is a whistle that serves as a signaling instrument for generating and transmitting acoustic signals and occasionally as a musical instrument . It is blown with the mouth and the breath like a beaked flute and produces a typical trill .

function

A moving ball in the resonance chamber of a high, bumped pipe creates a regularly recurring change in cross-section, which results in a corresponding change in pitch. Due to the human hearing function, this is recognized as at least two simultaneously sounding tones with a pitch close to one another. The actually generated sound event is generally perceived as unpleasant and therefore has a signal effect due to interference and dissonance .

The sound pressure of a whistle can - especially when used near the ear - reach the pain threshold and lead to irreversible damage to the hearing organ. It makes sense to use earplugs when playing for a long time .

materials

Whistles are made of plastic , wood or metal .

Use as a signaling instrument

Whistles are used, among other things, to give various signals during the operation of the railway : With their help, the train driver signals the imminent departure of the train . Signals and commands with whistling signals can also be given when maneuvering .

The whistle is also used in ball sports : With the whistle or the final whistle , the referee opens or ends an ongoing game between two sporting teams . For the first time in ball sports a whistle was used in June 1884 in New Zealand by the referee William Atack (1857-1946) in a rugby game, which was a sensation at the time.

Police units used to use the whistle in the past, and some still use it today to give signals. With the whistle z. B. Reinforcement can be requested. In addition, police officers who are chasing a fugitive can announce their positions to each other in order to encircle the fugitive. Even if the whistle has been replaced as a means of communication by the radio in many police units, it is still sporadically z. B. used in the regulation of road traffic.

Even today the whistle is used by military superiors to send signals, e.g. B. to attack or evade, because the voice is too low and a radio link is often not given to all soldiers.

The whistle can be used to draw attention to yourself in emergency situations such as distress at sea .

The whistle is often used at demonstrations to reinforce political demands.

Use as a musical instrument

The whistle as an ideal complement to maracas rattles

Another possible application is the use as a noise , rhythm and effect instrument . As a toy instrument , it is also often used by children and is also an ideal addition to z. B. to maracas or other loud rhythm instruments, because you can keep them in your mouth and have your hands free. The easy-to-learn way of playing and the very affordable price of the instruments (mostly only a few euros ) have also contributed to the high prevalence among children.

The Apito used in samba music is a special whistle in which two holes can be opened or closed individually or in combination to achieve multiple tones. The "normal" monotonous whistle can also be used to play samba rhythms.

Shrill whistle

Sound of a bobby whistle (The Metropolitan)
The shrill whistle as a rhythm instrument

In some sports where the referee has to emit a very loud sound signal, the whistle has been replaced by a so-called shrill whistle. Such sports are, for example, water polo : Here the player often has water in his ears and therefore hears worse. Furthermore, due to the noise of the spectators in the swimming pools, there is always a certain basic level of volume that must be drowned out.

The shrill whistle has no moving body in the resonance chamber. In pipes lying next to each other and blown at the same time, it generates individual tones of different heights, which also generate a louder overall sound through interference. However, some shrill whistle models only produce a single single tone without interference.

Like the usual whistles, shrill whistles can also be used as noise, rhythm, effect and toy instruments.

  • Bobby whistle (The Metropolitan)

  • ACME survival

literature

Web links

Commons : Whistles  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Whistle  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Helga Neubauer: Atack, William (1857-1946) . In: The New Zealand Book . 1st edition. NZ Visitor Publications , Nelson 2003, ISBN 1-877339-00-8 , pp. 1065 .
  2. ↑ Standard: EN-ISO 12402-8 point 5.2