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“Bitchin’ Betty” Says Farewell: Beloved Voice Behind Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet Retires

“Bitchin’ Betty” Says Farewell: Beloved Voice Behind Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet Retires on HackerTube: recommended by 1 Hacker News commenter across 1 month, 2016–2022.

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A short Boeing piece on the retirement of the voice behind the F/A-18 Super Hornet cockpit warning system, nicknamed Bitchin' Betty. It touches on why the stern voice alerts are used.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Cited as an example of effective alarm and voice-alert design and in discussions of reactions to female voices.

people recommended it
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discussed on HN
2016–2022
“one of my favorite examples of this type of work”
— dfsegoat, Nov 2016, in “An Alarm Designer on How to Annoy People in the Most Effective Ways”

What HN commenters said

3 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

dfsegoatNov 2016Recommends

Along these same lines, one of my favorite examples of this type of work (human factors related to attention/alerting) is "Bitchin' Betty" and company - the female voice that makes up the "oral alert system" from the F/A-18 superhornet: ▶ this video A lot of research went into everything from the gender to the tone of the voice so that pilots would know to immediately pay attention to the warning system above everything else. [0] - [link]

in “An Alarm Designer on How to Annoy People in the Most Effective Ways” · View on HN

iwillbeniceOct 2022Cites it

Not just the USSR! The UK and US did the same too! For more info: [link] ▶ this video My personal opinion is the "Bitching Betty" voice with its crisp instructions and authoritative tone makes us subliminally think of our mother giving us guidance or reprimand at an early age. It is a great design; it has saved a TON of pilot lives who otherwise would have accidentally perished.

in ““Women are wonderful” effect” · View on HN

sandworm101May 2017Cites it

There is some science behind this. Studies have shown that people, both men and women, react differently to a female voice. Sometimes that reaction can make a real difference. ▶ this video

in “Go Ahead and Date Your Digital Assistant” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Aviation & aerospace engineeringUX & UI designf/a-18bitchin' bettyalarm designaviationvoice alerts