Do Emergency Sirens Have to Be So Loud?

When and why did emergency sirens get so loud? These are questions that Ben Naddaf-Hafrey, senior producer for Pushkin Industries, tried to answer in a recent episode of Malcolm Gladwell's "Revisionist History" podcast. Naddaf-Hafrey lives opposite a fire station in Brooklyn, which means he is often exposed to the high decibels of an engine's siren. But, as he discovered in his reporting, loud sirens may not be as effective in saving lives as we think. Naddaf-Hafrey discusses what he found and listeners share their experiences with sirens on the streets of New York. Click here to read some of his in-depth reporting on this subject.