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An air horn is a pneumatics device designed to create a loud noise for signaling purposes. It usually consists of a source which produces compressed air, which passes into a horn through a reed or diaphragm. The stream of air causes the reed or diaphragm to vibrate, creating sound waves, then the horn amplifies the sound making it louder. Air horns are widely employed as , installed on large , semi-trailer trucks, Fire apparatus, , and some as a warning device, and on ships as a signaling device.
Larger air horns used on ships and function similarly to a whistle; instead of a diaphragm the air escapes from a closed cylindrical resonator chamber through a precisely shaped slit directed against a knife edge (fipple). The air blowing past the knife edge oscillation, creating sound waves. The oscillations excite in the resonator chamber, so the length of the chamber determines the pitch of the note produced.
There are also electronic horns for emergency vehicles, which produce a similar easily recognizable sound. These are typically integrated into the same system as the vehicle's electronic siren, and sound through the same speakers. In the last several decades, electronic sound systems with more widely varying frequencies have been chosen as common supplemental warning systems.
Fifteen to twenty seconds before entering a level crossing, federal law requires locomotives to sound their horns in a standard warning sequence. This succession consists of two long, one short, and one long horn sounding repeated as necessary until the locomotive clears the crossing. Exceptions to federal law occur in locations with established quiet zone ordinances that prohibit sounding locomotive horns.
In recent years, it has become a fad for bicycle, car, and truck enthusiasts to install large air horns on their vehicles. Some jurisdictions do not allow an airhorn to be attached, whether or not it can be activated.
Cyclist Yannick Read attached a train horn to his bicycle and set the Guinness World Record for the world's loudest bicycle horn.
Small versions are sometimes used as , since they yield a louder warning sound than traditional bicycle bells or bulb reed horns.
Another use is as a non-lethal weapon for self-defense, mainly as an sound distraction to get away from an attacker. For outdoor activities like hiking, hunting, cross-country skiing, canoeing, fishing, an air horn can be handy to frighten away unwanted or aggressive wildlife, signalling for help and to announce one's location.
Additionally, air horns (especially those that contain fluorocarbons) have the potential to be abused as a substitute for recreational drugs since many such refrigerants can be Inhalation for a quick and dangerous intoxication.
The idea of a goal horn in NHL ice hockey is said to have begun in 1973, when Bill Wirtz, then-owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, liked the sound of the Kahlenberg Q-3 on his yacht so much that he had another Q-3 mounted inside of the team's home arena, Chicago Stadium, to be sounded whenever the Blackhawks scored a goal. Since then, every NHL, AHL (with the exception of the Chicago Wolves, who instead use a siren and fireworks), ECHL, SHL, and CHL team has picked up a horn, including many more leagues.
In mixed martial arts, an air horn is commonly used to signal the end of a round as opposed to the bell used in boxing and professional wrestling. However, CZW, GCW, and other independent wrestling companies allow air horns, while major companies such as WWE and IMPACT Wrestling have banned them.
The "Air Horn Orchestra" gathered at the North Carolina Governor's Mansion every Wednesday for 30 weeks from April 13, 2016, until November 2, 2016, to protest the state's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, also known then as House Bill 2, and Governor Pat McCrory by making a cacophony. The 30th and final performance on November 2 was expected to set the Guinness World Record for the number of simultaneously sounding air horns, having had 342 participants. This was the last performance owing to the gubernatorial election six days later.
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