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I have been frightened of fire alarms ever since I was a young child. I absolutely hate the blaring noise of it and I find it scary and annoying.
Yes!!! I had a very bad phobia of fire alarms all throughout my school years. The phobia got better over time. It was a lot worse in elementary school. Even in high school i was still rather terrified of the sudden noise. I don't worry much about it anymore since i have not had to deal with it in college
I'll say normal. I had a dog that was scared of alarms and would howl to them. It was kind of cute. XD
Alarms are supposed to be scary and attention-grabbing. A fire alarm that sounded like a kitten softly purring wouldn't really have the effect it should have.
Well, I am not necessarily talking about that soft of a sound would do the trick either. I just feel as if the blaring horn sound it makes is way too loud. I hear noises a tad bit louder than average, because of Hyperacousis. I am thinking that the sound shouldn't be as loud as it is today. I completely see and understand your viewpoint, though. A sound right in the middle of the two extremities would be perfect.
My buildings fire alarm is really polite. "Can I have your attention please, the fire alarm has been set off please vacate the building" it gets actually more annoying than standard fire alarms. Which is the point.
Ughhh...the building I work in (residential multistory apartment block) has this fuckin awful system for testing the alarms - Idk how often they do it but in the last 6mths it's happened twice. They start yelling through an intercom that they are going to do the test...5mins pass then they blare the fuckin alarm...5 more mins the they tell you test is concluded. It happens when the baby is asleep and the poor little guy is so traumatised. I'm sure the other babies and pets in the building are, too. I imagine he's going to grow up with a fear of them, like you.
They make me jump and my heart race - which I guess is kinda their purpose - a loud distressing noise to get your attention. A nice, auditorially pleasing noise wouldn't have the same effect.
Edit: just read your comment about your hyperacousis. I've not heard of it, so Idk how common it is (though I guess similar or even exactly the thing that people with ASDs often have with auditory hypersensitivity?). I think even in a society increasingly aware of and sensitive to the needs of people with additional needs, this is probably not likely to change, which is shitty for you, but as it is a matter of safety, there may be no "in between".