Cars With Fake Engine Sounds
Are you missing the Vroom Vroom? Since the invention of the automobile, the aim has been to reduce engine noise, for example with mufflers. Today the research is all for the opposite effect. Car makers want to boost the engine noise. It turns out, car buyers want cars with engines that make noise. A car enthusiast or a true gear-head (a slang term for someone who is very into cars and who likes to tinker under the hood) can gauge the performance of his car by the sound of the engine. The newer fuel-efficient cars鈥攅lectric cars or hybrids鈥攁re virtually noiseless. A car that runs silently or emits barely a purr is disconcerting, so car makers are putting the roar back into cars by simulating the engine sounds. It is like lip-syncing, only for cars instead of singers. Engine noises give a sense of power and sexiness to the car鈥攁ttributes which many drivers feel are magically transferred to them because they own and drive the car. It turns out that drivers want all the benefits of new engine technology such as better fuel efficiencycars, but they still want the excitement of their old gas-guzzler. How is the vroom produced?
Stomp on the gas pedal of your new Ford Mustang or your Toyota Prius and you hear the familiar roar, but it is a sham. The sound isn鈥檛 coming from the engine. It is coming from the speaker system or the special noise-boosting mechanisms that are designed to amplify the engine鈥檚 sound. There are a variety of mechanisms by which different car manufacturers give the driver his vroom back. In some cases, the sound-generation system is simply a recording that is synced with the gas pedal; in others, actual engine noises are amplified. Volkswagen uses a 鈥淪oundakator鈥?in cars like the GTI, GLI, and Beetle Turbo. It looks like a hockey puck and it plays engine sounds. It plays sound from an audio file that is triggered by the car鈥檚 actual engine performance. Porsche has a 鈥淪ound Symposer鈥?for its GTS car series. It consists of a tube housing a diaphragm and a valve to amplify the mechanical sounds made while the car is being driven. Lexus went to Yamaha鈥檚 Center for Advanced Sound Technologies to give drivers the full experience of the LFA鈥檚 V-10 engines.
They treated the engine as a sound generator and played the 鈥渕usic鈥?back into the car鈥檚 cabin. The BMW F5 records the car noises from outside of the car and amplifies them for playback through the car鈥檚 stereo system. It鈥檚 like a back-up track. With the best systems, the vroom is synchronized to the car鈥檚 actual performance. The fake noises should mimic the sounds that an engine naturally makes in the same circumstances. Is the enhanced vroom something new? Enhanced engine sounds aren鈥檛 entirely new. Popular Mechanics reported in 2012 that many automobiles included noise-amplifying components, the forerunners of the more sophisticated systems being used in today鈥檚 cars. The Corvette had a system of valves that opened under full throttle, bypassing the muffler. The Ford Mustang had 鈥渘oise pipes鈥?that linked the vehicles intake system with the cabin. Is faked vroom cheating? When a musician lip-syncs, you think you are hearing him performing the song live, but what you are actually hearing is a playback of a pre-recorded rendition of the song. When the deception is exposed, the audience feels cheated.
Remember the Milli Vanilli scandal back in 1990---the band was stripped of their Grammy when it was discovered that they were lip-syncing to someone else鈥檚 vocals. Some people feel that it doesn鈥檛 matter if the engine sounds are fake. If the driver doesn鈥檛 know the difference, he is still getting the same experience. He can enjoy the sound of thundering horse-power while at the same time getting the benefits of a better engine. Others feel that car-makers should not be lying to their customers. They are purists. If you want the sexy rumble of a V-8 engine, then you should have the real thing鈥攅ven if you have to have higher gas costs and live with the knowledge that you are polluting the planet. It is about being authentic. I don鈥檛 buy that argument. Maybe I don鈥檛 care about enhancing a car鈥檚 sexiness by amping up the sound because I鈥檓 a woman.
