Taking my life into my hands the other day, I squeezed around the London Underground and found myself pressed up against an advertisement on the Piccadilly Line for that manufacturer of jobs, I meant ‘first-rate military equipment’ British Aerospace or BAe as it would now prefer to be known.
I discovered that Royal Air Force pilots enjoy the delights of an ‘assertive’ and ‘calm’ woman’s voice, produced by electronic circuitry, telling them ‘Missile locked onto you’, ‘Pull up! Pull up’ and ‘You fool! You’re going to die’… I made that last one up, I hope.
The advertisement informed me that the pilots affectionately know this disembodied squawking harpy as ‘Nagging Nora’. Far be it from me to even hint that this nickname could be anything other than a cute moniker of endearment. However, the only person I have met in the last five years who worked in the R.A.F. was a woman, although she wasn’t a pilot. And I also know that gays are now allowed into the armed services. So this caused me to wonder… Has a pilot been sued for divorce yet, by a jealous wife, angry at her beloved calling out of ‘Nora, Nora’ in his sleep?
Can a female pilot sue the R.A.F. for refusing to provide her with a ‘Nagging Norman’ voice, perhaps modelled on the authoritarian tones of that former pilot Lord Tebbitt? Can a homosexual pilot demand the same (which would be funny given Lord Tebbitt’s known ‘enthusiasm’ for gay rights)? And if different voices are provided for women and gays, will it be considered ‘pressure’ on lesbians to reveal their sexuality to admit that actually, they rather preferred Nagging Nora’s soft and assertive tones, all along?
As we prepare for war, I hope that these vital issues for the nation’s defence are given the proper attention that they deserve. And never mind that the Tornado is hopelessly outclassed as a fighter by the Iraqi Mig 29s.
heh, what Iraqi Mig-29’s? Something tells me they’ll be the first to go when the shooting starts, if they haven’t already defected over the border to Iran or Syria. The Tornado is more of an attack plane anyway.
As for Nora, I once read in Janes or somewhere that a female voice is used b/c male pilots tend to pay more attention to it. But as you said, it might have to be rethunk (is that a word) now that women are flying (in the US too).
[blinding flash of insight] I know! They should make both voices available, and the pilot can choose the one he or she wants with a switch in the cockpit.[/blinding flash of insight]
I suppose a little personal choice in the matter might be too much to ask of the military, though.
‘Pull up you bloody fool!’
‘Pull yer effin thumb out!’
‘You broke it, now you’re in for it!’
‘Alright, who farted? This *IS* a single seater after all.’
What you weren’t soliciting ideas for new aircrew warning recordings?
Here’s one for you: in my region of the US, we have a rapidly growing Hispanic population. As a result, supermarket self-checkouts and voice-mail systems often offer a choice between English and Spanish as soon as you start. The other day, while buying some Diet Coke, I accidentally hit “Tocar aqui para emprazar” instead of “Touch here to start”.
Imagine my suprise to note that the pleasant female voice used in English has been replaced by a male voice that sounds not unlike a radio announcer (deep and booming). As I thought back on it, I’ve noticed this in other cases where I’ve been offered an English-or-Spanish choice: English is a bland, soft woman’s voice; Spanish is a strong male basso.
Interesting cross-cultural difference.
Who cares if they can sue?
They should not. And if they do, some lawyers *who know how* will deal with it.
Or have I missed the point?
The US Strategic Air Command discovered back in the 1950s that a calm female voice caught the attention of both American men and women better than a man’s voice, so they went with that data. Of course there are other considerations. As a recording engineer for many years, I noted that not all racial groups had the same voice qualities. East Asian women in general seem to have less resonance to their voices, as do East Asian men. This makes their voice less carrying. Europeans, blacks, and South Asians seem to have deeper registers, certainly more resonance, or “weight” to their voices. Such voices come across better on recordings, and can be heard more easily at any given volume. My pet theory is that East Asians have smaller sinus cavities, and thus less room for resonance to develop, a bit like a guitar filled with cotton.
Of course, there are many East Asians who do, in fact, have resonant voices, ie Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune or American nitwit news host Connie Chung.
“I say chaps, the last man to return to base has to buy the tea and buns!”
personally, I think they should get the combat instructions from a guy doing a Terry Thomas or Leslie Philips impersonator.
Heh
I believe in the US Air Force she’s called “Bitching Betty.”
I suspect that Nora wasn’t necessarily the brainchild of BAe Systems. Having more than a passing familiarity with defense contracting (and the afforementioned company), I would bet a lot of money that she was the result of some bizarre MoD requirement proposed by military-contracted psychologists. There are a suprising number of odd, nit-picky things thrown into requirements documents that make the contractors scratch their heads, sigh heavily and respond with something like, “Okay. But that’ll cost ya’ another $500,000”.
Going through the old threads I came up on this one. I´m licensed aircraft maintenance engineer (A&P to you Yanks ;-)) by profession. On the MD-11 I work on there is a female voice calling out alerts like “(ringing bell) Engine one fire…” (with the exception of the ground proximity warning system, which uses a male voice: “Terrain, pull up, glide slope…). And you were right she is called “Bitching Betty”, I suggested “Nagging Norbert” for the man´s voice, but it didn´t get on well because one of my supervisor´s name is Norbert… oh, well… .
Apparently the female voice was used because men tend to pay better attention if a woman tells them something, but it depends on the aircraft manufacturer, for example Boeing only uses male voices in their 757 and 767.
Jan