It is equally frustrating to the visitor and the occupant when a doorbell is so located that it cannot be heard from the immediate environs of its operating pushbutton. In such cases the visitor is unsure if the doorbell is working, and is more often than not tempted to press the button protractedly and repeatedly. If the bell is not in working order, this considerable effort goes to waste; if it is, cries of "Enough already!" and concomitant consideration of homicide are elicited in the occupant.

The solution is an auxiliary bell incorporated into the pushbutton, activated by the sound of the main bell. It may be simplified by not being activated by the main bell but simply by the pushbutton, for a moment's reflection will reveal that it doesn't really make all that much difference whether the main bell is working or not. Having heard the auxiliary bell, the typical visitor is likely to be satisfied that things are sort of generally working and that the main bell has probably rung.

Of course, it is best to mount the bell where it can be heard from the button, but such sanity is hard to come by.
-- Ned_Ludd, Oct 19 2007

To discourage rapid repeated use, alter a doorbell button to administer a mild shock to any finger that tries multiple pressings within a specified time frame, say less than 20 seconds. The shock would grow stronger the more rapidly they try again.

An alternate method to discourage rapid reuse of the doorbell would be a circular set of jaws mounted around the button. These jaws would have sharp, long, nasty-looking teeth attached, and they would snap shut around the button shortly after it has been pushed, then slowly re-open after a couple of minutes. It's up to you to decide whether the teeth would be capable of doing any real damage or just for show.
-- Canuck, Oct 19 2007


If there were more than one of these sound activated auxiliary doorbells, they might trigger each other in an endless loop. Much time would be then wasted in checking the door.

One could do something along these same lines for a "knock augmentator", which would knock on a suitable substance closer to the occupant after detecting the initial knock, which the knocker would probably hear and be satisfied that things were sort of generally working.
-- bungston, Oct 19 2007


I'm not completely sure about this. If I press the button and hear a faint buzz emanating from the environs of the button itself, my reaction is likely to be either (a) "Gosh, that's an awfully quiet doorbell. He'll never hear that, I'd best press it again to be sure." or (c) "Gosh, he's got one of those new-fangled Doorbell Repeaters, but I remember reading on a website somewhere that it doesn't guarantee that the main bell is working. And come to think of it, I didn't hear the main bell over the noise of the repeater, so maybe it isn't working and I should now knock."
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 19 2007


How about a Response Button that is inside the house and turns on a light near the outside button. So if the person inside hears the doorbell they can hit the Response Button so the person outside knows they are coming and they dont have to keep ringing.
-- airportpanic, Oct 21 2007



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