Why does OS X produce occasional "Funk" built-in sounds?

[jon08]

This was already occurring in Leopard and now in SL as well - occasionally, sometimes even more than that, the "Funk" built-in sound comes out of nowhere - at times even several times in a row. Why?

For those who don't know what I'm talking about: it's the sound you hear when you for example get disconnected from iChat or MSN, etc. You can listen to it if you go to System Preferences\Sound\Sound Effects.

Why does it sometimes occur out of the blue, even with no apps running?

 

[skottichan]

This was already occurring in Leopard and now in SL as well - occasionally, sometimes even more than that, the "Funk" built-in sound comes out of nowhere - at times even several times in a row. Why?

For those who don't know what I'm talking about: it's the sound you hear when you for example get disconnected from iChat or MSN, etc. You can listen to it if you go to System Preferences\Sound\Sound Effects.

Why does it sometimes occur out of the blue, even with no apps running?

I've not experienced it with nothing running. I've narrowed it down to when it's just Mail running. I too would like to find out why.

 

[Consultant]

I've not experienced it with nothing running. I've narrowed it down to when it's just Mail running. I too would like to find out why.

Probably new mail.

Perhaps spam mail is also considered new mail.

 

[appleguy123]

Happens to me a lot when using trackpad expose with no windows open.

 

[wackymacky]

It's a sound as that the system generates when it is trying to get your attention.

Possibly there is a background process triggering the alert, but noting being displayed on the GUI?