65% of Europeans living in urban areas are exposed to noise from traffic, causing irritation, stress and reduce performance. While many people consider that electric cars could make cities more silent, the danger now is that people cannot hear the cars coming. In July 2019, governments in Europe have set requirements for car manufacturers to place external speakers on electric cars with fake engine noises. Instead of bringing back one of the main problems of noise pollution, I took the opportunity to design sounds that can actually add value to life in cities.
65% of Europeans living in urban areas are exposed to noise from traffic, causing irritation, stress and reduce performance. While many people consider that electric cars could make cities more silent, the danger now is that people cannot hear the cars coming. In July 2019, governments in Europe have set requirements for car manufacturers to place external speakers on electric cars with fake engine noises. Instead of bringing back one of the main problems of noise pollution, I took the opportunity to design sounds that can actually add value to life in cities.
Why it's important
Urban citizens are always exposed to sounds and noises in their everyday life. Real health problems are caused by long-term exposure to noise from traffic and interferes with people’s daily activities. To combat noise pollution and the negative effects of noise, we need to explore how positive perceived sounds in our environment can take the attention away from unwanted sounds. This research project aims to showcase how future cars could transform cities into a pleasant soundscape for urban citizens.
Electric vehicles will become "smarter" in the future and probably autonomous. The main goal for autonomous vehicle systems now is to have the car run in full autonomous mode. Future cars can detect roads, traffic lights, the amount of traffic and gets a clear picture of the environment. In this way it's possible to create an audio system for cars with the ability to calculate the desired sounds in sonic districts.
It's relevant for every big city to think about how cities could sound with the rise of the electric car. Future cars will have the the ability to gather contextual information about an area and introduce multiple sounds where the acoustical needs are different. As a result, you can listen how the designed car sounds create a pleasant soundscape in the sonic districts.
Project
Research Report
The Sounds
Sonic Districts
Diederik Mulder
dtcmulder@gmail.com
0628425115
Instagram: @diedmulder
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