As a regular laptop user I often find myself in public places doing work -- usually in the vi editor in a Unix shell. And usually I've got my computer muted, just so I don't disturb my fellow students or the other patrons in the Starbucks with various beeps, whistles, and sound effects.
However, this means that I'm often unaware of the various beeps that go off in the course of using the computer -- if you've ever used vi, you know that it's a very noisy little program.
To avoid missing those important beeps, I've set my computer to flash the screen whenever it beeps. Here's how you do it:
TheUniversal Access preferences are full of useful functions -- even if you don't have a hearing disability. Ignore the part that says When using the computer, I have difficulties with: -- these settings can be used by everyone to good effect.
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20030502033306523