The piercing beep of a microwave oven is one of the most hated sounds in modern life. Sound designer Joel Corelitz, like many, found himself sprinting to open the microwave door before the counter hit zero to silence the noise. But instead of merely enduring it, he and his colleague Colin Coogan from Starling decided to fix it—using only code.
The Technology Behind the Beep
Since the 1970s, most microwaves have used a passive piezoelectric buzzer—a tiny, cheap membrane that vibrates when electrically charged to produce a rudimentary beep. According to the article by Jeremy White in WIRED, these buzzers cost only cents apiece and are deployed in toys, smoke detectors, alarm clocks, and multimeters. Manufacturers can set only the frequency and duration, which explains the universally offensive tone.
A Software-Only Fix
Corelitz and Coogan set themselves a challenge: improve the microwave sound using the existing hardware—no new parts. “Any microcontroller that accepts C++ can take different programming and produce different sounds,” Corelitz says. “There's already a microcontroller in there, and there's already a piezo buzzer.”
Using a laptop and a tool called Microwave Sound Bench, Corelitz demonstrated alternatives to the traditional beep: trills with super-short notes, frequency sweeps like a cartoon falling object, arpeggios, and what he calls a “sequence of events” that sounds like a video game. All are generated using C++ on an Arduino, but Corelitz notes the code is “really just C++” and “theoretically compatible with any hardware that's in a microwave.”
Business Implications for Manufacturers
The solution requires only a software update—replacing a few lines of code in the existing microcontroller. For manufacturers competing in the white goods market, this means no hardware redesign and no added cost for a speaker or new buzzer. The pair's previous work with clients including Sony, Microsoft, Netflix, Sega, and Ford on major sonic strategies underscores the feasibility of such sound design.
| Sound Type | Description | Example Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional beep | Fixed-frequency, grating tone from piezo buzzer | Current microwave ovens |
| Trill | Rapid alternation of notes | Alert without annoyance |
| Frequency sweep | Descending or ascending tone | Start/end of cycle |
| Arpeggio | Broken chord sequence | Musical notification |
Cost and Implementation
The key advantage is zero new hardware cost. The piezoelectric buzzer already costs cents, and the microcontroller is already present. Corelitz's demonstration on an Arduino proves the concept works on generic hardware. A manufacturer would need only to be “open to putting new code in their device,” he says. This approach could dramatically improve user experience while maintaining existing margins.
For enterprise technology leaders evaluating innovations in consumer electronics or even industrial interfaces, Starling's method shows how software-driven sound design can replace decades-old hardware limitations. The same principle—upgrading code rather than components—could apply to any device with a piezo buzzer and a programmable microcontroller.
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