Cortex has three situational alarms. Anchor Watch, Collision avoidance, and Man Overboard (MOB).
Once an alarm is triggered Cortex will begin with an aural alarm, giving a clear voice alert with the nature of the alarm, such as "Collision Alert, port bow" or "Man Overboard, astern". The initial volume of this alarm follows the volume settings you have selected via the Cortex Handset volume control. Until the alarm is silenced, the aural alert will continue to broadcast with increasing volume, with an eventual buzzer sound.
| Escalation | Alert # | Voice Alerts | Interval (sec) | Volume |
| Normal | 1 | 3 | - | Selected level |
| 1st. | 2 | 3 | 60 | 50% |
| 2nd. | 3 | 3 | 45 | 75% |
| 3rd. | 4 | 3, +Buzzer Sound | 30 | 100% |
These escalations apply to both the Cortex™ Handset and Hub External Speaker.