I mean ha d signals are used all the time in loud situations. Any cultures add emphasis and speak with their hands in their own way. My family is Spaniard and there is a method to the madness that is gesturing that is subconscious to a large degree.

Italians are the same way.

Police and military need to speak with gestures to not be heard, people have probably been doing that longer than they've been talking. Gestures are our basic communication.