Hear the idea of creating a car sound, and you might imagine a
sound designer working on a video game or film. Imagining that
person producing a sound for an actual car could sound like a
joke. But as today’s vehicles go silent – whisper-quiet electric
cars to human-powered bicycles – the problem of imagining noises
for them to make becomes deadly serious. Our brains are wired to
respond quickly to sound, so when cars suddenly don’t make any
noise, alerting us to their presence is a serious issue. Audi’s
engineers are working on that problem in the video here (thanks
to reader Vadim Nuniyants for the tip!): Audi’s future e-tron
models will cover long distances powered by practically silent
electric motors. To ensure that pedestrians in urban settings
will hear them, the brand has developed a synthetic solution:
Audi e-sound. Audi’s not alone, either; it’s a safe assumption
that many electric makers are working on this problem. Cyclists
may want to consider it, too, though mechanical solutions
(letting the whe