Exhaust speaker system tunes hybrid to V8 sound

Posted Wed Aug 13 2008 4:35 PM by Nelson Ireson

A German automotive supply company has announced a system that applies basic principles of sonic tuning to produce an exhaust system capable of rendering nearly any sound desired. The problem of hybrid cars being too quiet for pedestrian safety is well-known, but the company also sees other, more 'cosmetic' uses of the system in its future.

The system works by locating a single speaker inside the exhaust system, which replaces the standard muffler on nearly any car. The speaker can then be tuned to emit sounds that selectively eliminate or enhance sounds as the owner sees fit.

The company, Eberspacher GmbH and its North American subsidiary, designed the ActiveSilence system to be able to cancel out, augment, or alter the sounds arriving in the unique muffler design to render just about any sound imaginable from the tailpipe - including, as the name implies, no sound at all, reports The Detroit News.

"It allows you to completely calibrate the sound," said Martin Romzek, Eberspacher's vice president of engineering. "We can cancel the bad sounds and enhance those that might be pleasing."

Lotus engineering revealed a similar, though significantly more complex, system earlier this year. Also designed in part to combat the problem of dangerously quiet hybrid and electric cars, the system can be used to simulate other engine sounds, like the ActiveSilence unit, as well.

Reader Comments

Wed Aug 13 2008 4:56 PM
NoNameDenton says

Other then this being good for kids on their bicycles (like the one who got hit by a Prius), I really do not see a point to this.
Wed Aug 13 2008 5:10 PM
Gus says

Enough already.
Do you know how many places would be great places to live without all the traffic noise?
If everyone drove an electric car (and boy do we need to get rid of those Harleys with open pipes) there would be so many more nice places to live.
People just need to get used to looking around more, eventually this will be a non-issue.
I like the throaty burble of my Mustang GT, but I could just as easily live without it if it were just as fast and fun to drive. I know, I've driven the Tesla, and it is fantastic to just hear the wind...
Wed Aug 13 2008 5:15 PM
Laz says

NoNameDenton has a point. Why wouldn't hybrid cars come with an alarm that will go off if it approaches a person/object?
Thu Aug 14 2008 9:23 AM
Turkle says

I want mine to sound like a horse's hooves. As I accelerate the sound of the horse speeds up. When I am going faster then any horse can run I want the sound to switch over to what an outboard boat engine sounds like as it skips across two foot swells in an 18" flat boat. Yeah baby, all for safety's sake.
Thu Aug 14 2008 10:39 AM
peste says

hahaha im with turkle

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