Skoda improves cycling safety with the ‘DuoBell’

Skoda is taking cycling safety seriously and has developed a new piece of technology called the ‘DuoBell.’

The Czech firm has collaborated with researchers and acousticians from the University of Salford to develop this ground-breaking safety device.

Skoda and the research team at the university found a narrow frequency band called the ‘safe gap’, between 750Hz and 780Hz which often penetrates noise-cancelling filters.

According to London Transport data, bike-pedestrian collisions rose by 24 per cent in 2024, due to the widespread use of noise-cancelling headphones.

The Skoda DuoBell features two resonators with the second tuned to a higher frequency and a specially designed striking mechanism allowing rapid, irregular impacts to generate sound waves to override noise-cancelling devices.

Ben Edwards and Guy Hobbs from AMV BBDO creative agency, said: “Bike bells have hardly changed in a hundred years, but the world around them has. Skoda DuoBell is the first ever bell designed to cut through noise-cancelling headphones. A clever analogue hack that outsmarts the AI algorithms inside them. It’s one tweak that will make city streets safer.”

A two-week trial conducted in London by Deliveroo riders using Skoda’s DuoBell found that the device can be heard five seconds or 22 metres earlier than a standard cycling bell – making riders across the capital easier to hear.