Skoda has revealed the DuoBell, a new bicycle bell that's said to bypass noise-cancelling headphones in a bid to improve road safety.
The car company points to Transport for London data, which reveals that bike-pedestrian collisions rose by 24 per cent in 2024.
“One contributing factor is the widespread rise in the use of noise-cancelling headphones. Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) reduces awareness of approaching cyclists, posing serious danger to pedestrians and cyclists,” it says.
Researchers and acousticians from the University of Salford worked with Skoda to examine how ANC technology affects the audibility of bicycle bells.
ANC works by generating sounds that cancel incoming audio signals, which can mean pedestrians can no longer hear the humble bike bell.
But, throughout testing, the researchers found a narrow frequency band of between 750Hz and 780Hz that “consistently penetrates ANC filters”, and the DuoBell targets.
“[T]he DuoBell features a second resonator tuned to a higher frequency, and a specially designed striking mechanism that produces rapid, irregular impacts to generate sound waves that are designed to fool the ANC algorithms,” Skoda says.
The tech is said to help bell ringers be heard five seconds or 22 metres earlier.
Skoda says the bell has been tested in busy urban environments. A two-week trial with Deliveroo riders led to feedback that helped finalise the prototype.
Skoda worked with the creative agency AMV BBDO to develop the DuoBell.
Ben Edwards and Guy Hobbs, of AMV BBDO, say: “Bike bells have barely changed in a hundred years, but the world around them has. Skoda DuoBell is the first-ever bell designed to cut through noise-cancelling headphones. A clever analogue hack that outsmarts the AI algorithms inside them. It’s one tweak that will make city streets safer.”
The DuoBell is not currently available to the public, but there is an “influencer-led awareness campaign” about the bel running through April, featuring the delivery driver London Hustle and professor Hannah Fry.
