This is an incomplete list of applications that can be instrued to use the vb entry for the current terminal type:

• tcsh (6.04 and later): « set visiblebell« . The instruction can appear in .cshrc or can be issued interactively. To reset the audible bell just « unset visiblebell« . To disable any notification issue « set nobeep« .
• bash (any bash, as fas as I know): put « set bell-style visible » in your ~/.bashrc. Possible bell-style’s are also « none » or « audible ».
• bash (with readline, as well as other readline based applications): put « set prefer-visible-bell » in ~/.inputrc.
• nvi and elvis: put « set flash » in ~/.exrc or tell « :set flash » interactively (note the colon). To disable the visible bell use noflash in place of flash.
• emacs: put « (setq visible-bell t) » in your ~/.emacs. It is disabled by « (setq visible-bell nil)« .
• less: use « -q » on command line to use the visual bell, use « -Q » to disable any reporting. Default options can be put in your environment variable « LESS« .
• screen: issue the CtrlA-CtrlG command. It works on all the virtual screens. Refer to the man page under « CUSTOMIZATION » for setting the default.
• xterm: xterm can convert each bell to either a visible or audible signal. It defualt to audible, but you can use the « -vb » command line option and the « xterm*visualBell: true » resource. You can toggle visible/audible signaling on the fly with the control-mouse-1 menu.
• other X applications: you can tell the X server the volume of the bell, with the « -f volume » commandline option. « volume » is between 0 and 100. Refer to X docs/experts about how to pass command line options to the server.