Israeli tech company Silentium is finally ready to ship out its broad-band road noise cancellation tech to more carmakers, should they decide to fit their models with such a system.
The tech has been in development for several years, with Jaguar Land Rover becoming the first car company to integrate this ‘Active Acoustics’ software in their models, starting with the Jaguar F-Pace and Range Rover Velar.
Active road noise cancellation is said to remove 90% of unwanted noise across multiple frequencies – from 20Hz to 1kHz. The result is a considerably quieter ride, which in turn helps prevent driver fatigue.
Read Also: Jaguar Land Rover’s Active Noise Cancellation Helps Reduce Driver Fatigue
There are multiple benefits to using this type of technology, another one being a lower vehicle weight. This might happen as carmakers could reduce their reliance on passive noise damping and insulation materials.
“Active Acoustics will change the way car manufacturers reduce, cancel and enhance sound inside their vehicles, and how customers perceive and interact with those sounds. Silentium has proven that it can make broadband in-car noise cancellation work – now the duty is on the carmakers to adopt the technology and ensure their customers can enjoy the benefits,” said Silentium exec Anthony Manias.
As for how these systems actually work, well, their tech is very similar to what you’d find inside high-end noise-cancelling headphones. First you need up to six strategically positioned accelerometers on the chassis to monitor unwanted road noise, sending signals to an on-board control unit powered by Silentium’s software.
The program then plays an equivalent anti-noise signal through the car’s speaker system, which for JLR for example happens via a Meridian sound system.
In the end, both pressure waves (unwanted noise and anti-noise) will reach your eardrums at exactly the same time and cancel each other out.