A Two-Person Startup Has Fixed One of the Most Hated Sounds in Modern Life

Why? I detest so deeply its shrill beep heralding the completion of its reheating duties that it's almost as if the appliance has trained me, through operant conditioning, to open its door at T-minus 1 second, so the grating noise is silenced before it begins. But there is another way, a means by which microwave makers can keep their margins, not change the hardware in any way, and, just by manipulating a few lines of code, change the kitchen experience sonically for the better for aurally assaulted microwavers everywhere.

Enter Joel Corelitz and Colin Coogan from Starling, sound designers who have previously worked with clients including Sony, Microsoft, Netflix, and Sega, as well as on major projects such as a sonic strategy for Ford's entire lineup. Corelitz, much like the rest of us, loathes his microwave's unbearable beeps, so he decided to see if they could do something about it.