Does a drone sound similar to anything else?

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Bear in mind I have gone deaf and was not born deaf, so I know what things sounded like when I could hear. If I get the drone right beside an ear I can just about hear something but it is an unrecognisable noise.
A deer thread in here made me wonder, lol.

 

[Chrislaf]

I would say yes, especially when it is close to your hearing threshold (the point at which you sometimes can hear a tone or not hear a tone). I have been hearing impaired since birth and have worn hearing aids in both ears from an early age. I know that when a sound is close to my threshold I have trouble determining what it is and where it is located. This is even more pronounced when the sounds are similar for example a drone, a lawn mower or a plane.

Chris

 

[mobilehomer]

The closest I can think of is an old electric grass trimmer. The drone is a little louder, but very close.

 

[YVRGUY]

… YES

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

old electric grass trimmer

that was a buzz combined with a sort of whistle if I remember correctly, long time ago since I used one of those lol.

 

[Aerophile]

Closest analog that I can think of: drones sound like a swarm of bees...angry bees (or at least, what people seem to think angry bees sound like...it's not like most of us really have direct experience trying to differentiate the various different emotional states of bees...). I think if you ask most people for one word to describe the sound, most would say "buzz." What else do we associate with that sound?

As for the "angry" part...maybe it's the slight (sometimes rapid) pitch variations that accompany control inputs and (even more) the drone's efforts to hover in place if there's any wind -- the pitch of the "buzz" changes each time it changes directions or adjusts motors to remain in place.

In my experience, the sound often triggers a visceral reaction in many people (and possibly some animals).

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Closest analog that I can think of: drones sound like a swarm of bees...angry bees (or at least, what people seem to think angry bees sound like...it's not like most of us really have direct experience trying to differentiate the various different emotional states of bees...). I think if you ask most people for one word to describe the sound, most would say "buzz." What else do we associate with that sound?

As for the "angry" part...maybe it's the slight (sometimes rapid) pitch variations that accompany control inputs and (even more) the drone's efforts to hover in place if there's any wind -- the pitch of the "buzz" changes each time it changes directions or adjusts motors to remain in place.

In my experience, the sound often triggers a visceral reaction in many people (and possibly some animals).

Whilst I never heard a flying swarm of bees, I have had my hand inside one, a strange sensation and surprisingly warm........ BUT.... I could tell the difference between the feel of a not angry bee walking up my arm and the grip of an angry bee getting set to sting my arm, that saved me a few stings back when I kept bees.
I generally only wore a veil. I also recognised the smell of a squashed bee or one that had stung somewhere. Strange the things one remembers.
Though one hive always got the full suit, they were grumpy beep beeps but I wanted them, to produce "sections" (comb in 4"? wooden squares).

 

[CaseyK]

that was a buzz combined with a sort of whistle if I remember correctly, long time ago since I used one of those lol.

If you can remove some of the whistle in your mind it puts you very close.

 

[Chaosrider]

Closest analog that I can think of: drones sound like a swarm of bees...angry bees (or at least, what people seem to think angry bees sound like...it's not like most of us really have direct experience trying to differentiate the various different emotional states of bees...). I think if you ask most people for one word to describe the sound, most would say "buzz." What else do we associate with that sound?

As for the "angry" part...maybe it's the slight (sometimes rapid) pitch variations that accompany control inputs and (even more) the drone's efforts to hover in place if there's any wind -- the pitch of the "buzz" changes each time it changes directions or adjusts motors to remain in place.

In my experience, the sound often triggers a visceral reaction in many people (and possibly some animals).

This is exactly the way it occurs for me...angry bees. And I have excellent hearing.

The FPV, of course, sounds like a seriously pissed off giant killer mutant bee on steroids!

 

[mavictk]

I was flying my Air 2S above some trees and a couple of guys walking on a nearby trail asked me where the bees were as they sort of ducked. Of course, I told them about the drone and apologized for their discomfort.

 

[Brojon]

Closest analog that I can think of: drones sound like a swarm of bees...angry bees (or at least, what people seem to think angry bees sound like...it's not like most of us really have direct experience trying to differentiate the various different emotional states of bees...). I think if you ask most people for one word to describe the sound, most would say "buzz." What else do we associate with that sound?

As for the "angry" part...maybe it's the slight (sometimes rapid) pitch variations that accompany control inputs and (even more) the drone's efforts to hover in place if there's any wind -- the pitch of the "buzz" changes each time it changes directions or adjusts motors to remain in place.

In my experience, the sound often triggers a visceral reaction in many people (and possibly some animals).

I used to be a beekeeper and you're actually right. The sound a drone makes - especially bucking wind - is very similar to a bee swarm. It does provoke a visceral reaction in most animals and people because we're wired to pay attention to potential threats.
Bees typically don't make a lot of racket as the daily operations consist of harvesting and that involves bees coming and going at random times. So not enough to really register.
Sometimes in a heavily visited garden there are enough bees to register but it's more of a murmur.
But, if bees perceive a threat they get agitated and their "buzz rate" increases and the sound is louder. Much like a rattlesnake warning you off.
The cumulative effect is what we associate with "angry" bees. Bees don't get angry per se - they get defensive, then offensive if their little bee brains think it appropriate. Incidentally *never* swat a bee. It causes them to release an attack pheromone that will make you a target. You've now established yourself as a threat and they will come in meaning business.
Some like the Africanized bees can have a hair trigger on their alert systems.
An interesting fact there are two things that get bees defensive - color and sounds.
Lawnmowers and other droning machinery sounds enough like a swarm that the bees can register it as an attack and swarm the offending machine and operator in defense of the hive.
Dark colors can provoke a bee defense reaction - that's why bee suits are white. It's thought that dark registers as a potential raider - skunks and bears are known hive robbers.
Note that both of these are typically only encountered within a certain distance of a hive because it's the hive that is of the utmost concern.
But anger is an anthropomorphization.
Sorry for the long post - I love bees and it just pops out of me

 

[Aerophile]

Great post, it all makes sense and meshes with my own (admittedly limit) experience.

An interesting fact there are two things that get bees defensive - color and sounds.
Lawnmowers and other droning machinery sounds enough like a swarm that the bees can register it as an attack and swarm the offending machine and operator in defense of the hive.

Interesting comment about the color and sounds triggers, I had never heard about that. Yet it squares with an experience I recall from a couple summers ago...

I was mowing the lawn in front of my house. Using an electric (battery-powered) lawn mower (great machine, by the way..). Unlike a gas-powered mower, it definitely "humms" (and is moderately loud - much louder than a drone but a lower pitch).

Happily mowing away, I suddenly felt an intense, sharp pain on the back of my neck. OUCH!! WTF was that? I let go of the mower (auto shutoff) and felt around on my neck. Felt a now-tender raised spot. Checking myself in a mirror, I see a big red welt there -- yup, something bit me! I shrug it off, go back outside to finish cutting the grass and soon I notice a yellow-jacket or two buzzing around me. This seemed odd because 1) I don't recall the last time any bees bothered me (like, it's been decades), 2) they kept harassing me even though I moved away, gave them plenty of space, and waved them off, they continued to come after me, and 3) this was completely out of the blue (I mow the lawn regularly in the summer, have never had any trouble with insects harassing me before).

I abandoned my lawn mowing for the day, and went looking to see if I could find any more yellow jackets. I walked around behind the house and noticed a LOT of them (dozens, by my first estimate). And they were all buzzing around...the roof of my backyard plastic storage shed...which is where we keep the lawn mower. After suiting up in long pants and a hoodie (I had been in shorts and a T-shirt) I took a closer look. Yellow jackets were coming and going constantly in large numbers from the roof of the lawn mower shed. Uh-oh...

Note: I have learned that yellow jackets are wasps, not bees (they're nasty little buggers, too). Still, it appears they behave like bees in many ways...

I called Jerry The Bee Guy (a local who collects and relocates bees, preferably honey bees, at no charge but he will also dispose of nastier critters for a fee if needed). He came out that afternoon and (dressed in appropriate protective gear) located and destroyed a large yellow jacket nest (about the size of a flattened football) which had been built on the exterior roof of our shed. Problem solved.

Apparently, me opening up the shed doors and rolling out the lawn mover jiggles the shed enough that it disturbed the yellow jackets on the roof, which sent them out looking for a threat to neutralize. They seem to have found me on the other side of the house a few minutes later, and the loud HUMMM from the battery powered lawn mower seems to have identified me as a threat worth attacking.

At the time, the whole experience seemed really weird and completely out of the blue (I was a long way from the nest on the shed, on the other side of a large house) but some of the little buggers definitely went after me. The sound of the mower as a trigger aligns perfectly with what you said @Brojon, and now the "attack" makes sense. I never connected the sound with the incident. Amazing.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I used to be a beekeeper and you're actually right. The sound a drone makes - especially bucking wind - is very similar to a bee swarm. It does provoke a visceral reaction in most animals and people because we're wired to pay attention to potential threats..............

Plus.... do not pick a sting out, scrape it out with a finger nail etc.....pulling crushes the venom sack and pumps more venom into the body. Scraping doesn't crush the venom sack so much.

 

[Brojon]

Note: I have learned that yellow jackets are wasps, not bees (they're nasty little buggers, too). Still, it appears they behave like bees in many ways...

Yellowjackets and ground wasps (look the same - different nests) are a whole different breed.
I'm convinced they sting people for fun. Same thing with pheromones tho - if you mowed one down they released teh attack pheromone and any nearby wasps would come for you.

 

[mobilehomer]

Yellowjackets and ground wasps (look the same - different nests) are a whole different breed.
I'm convinced they sting people for fun. Same thing with pheromones tho - if you mowed one down they released teh attack pheromone and any nearby wasps would come for you.

I have been stung by both, the much smaller ground wasps HURT!!!! Yellow jackets, not so much.