install.packages("beepr")
library(beepr)
beep()

This package was previously called pingr and included a ping() function. By request from the CRAN maintainers it has been renamed in order to not be confused with the Unix tool ping. Consequently it is now called beepr and includes a beep() function instead. Other things that have changed since the original announcement is that it is now possible to play a custom wav-file by running beep("path/to/my_sound.wav") and that a facsimile of the Facebook notification sound has been added and which can be played by running beep("facebook") (thanks Romain Francois for the suggestion!).

Bonus Animation of a “Ping”

For fun I made a little animation of the actual “ping” sound that plays when you run beep() using the audio package and the animation package. Sure, the function is now called beep but I still like the original sound 🙂

Here is the code:

library(audio)
library(animation)
 # You would have to change this path to point to a valid wav-file 
w <- load.wave("inst/sounds/microwave_ping_mono.wav")
w <- w[1000:7000] # Trim both the start and the end of the ping sound

plot_frame <- function(sample_i) {
  old_par=par(mar=rep(0.1, 4));
  plot(w[seq(1, sample_i)], type="l", xaxt="n", yaxt="n", ylim=c(-0.3, 0.3), col="darkblue")
  text(x=3400, y=0.2, labels="beepr (former pingr)", cex=1.5)
  text(x=3900, y=-0.2, labels="- now on CRAN!", cex=1.5)
  par(old_par)
}

saveGIF(interval = 0.1, ani.width = 200, ani.height = 100, expr = {
  # The animation
  for(sample_i in seq(1, length(w), length.out=40)) {
    plot_frame(sample_i)
  }
  # Just repeating the last image a couple of times...
  for(i in 1:15) {
    plot_frame(length(w))
  }
})