is this for real or just marketing bs?

[jrt12]

i dont know if this acura commercial is just in the US or not, but i saw this awhile back and it caught my attention for the really cool real world application of phases and noise cancellation. i dont pretend to know alot of the science behind phases, frequencies, etc., just the basics. anyways, if its for real, then its bloody brilliant. but i'm def skeptical. i mean, equipping a vehicle with speakers and microphones to pull this off seems like it'd be really incredibly complicated and cost prohibitive. esp for a realtime, dynamic system. or is mostly just marketing bs?

 

[Morgan C]

All they'd have to do is have a realtime connection that flips the phase, not hard to implement.

But I don't understand exactly how it would work, would the microphone and speaker not have to be in exactly the same spot? Otherwise they're not going to cancel each other out when the phase is flipped, it'll double the noise? :/

Apparently there are sound-blocking earphones like this too.

 

[Wolfeman]

We have been using this in mufflers on 'top secret' military equipment for years guys (hope I don't get in trouble, I think this is public knowledge anyway, just can't say which vehicles). It works 'kinda' decent. You can still hear the exhaust, it's just a lot quieter. The thing is the system has a massive computer control unit, and it fails a lot. also, I'm assuming whatever they got going on in the muffler isn't cheap either, and once they would break they wouldn't even bother repairing them.

Now for getting rid of engine noise like in the ad, it might be a bit easier and cheaper to implement....

 

[AllanD]

I don't know, all I know is that Acura makes great cars.

 

[JMarz]

I don't know, all I know is that Acura makes great cars.

eeeehhh....

 

[AllanD]

eeeehhh....

Acura is the only Japanese company that I absolutely love. TL's make me want to blow a load.

 

[narcossintese]

It must be true. An engineer friend of mine was working on impulse technology to reduce the noise on trains on France. IIRC it is already in use. There was an anechoic chamber where we worked and he said it was the trippiest thing ever.

 

[Mancha]

Starts with military technology, then gets implemented in the cars, and few years down the road we`ll be wearing noise canceling underwear. Silent farts FTW

Not a bad trick though. I assume they would need 8 speaker all around the engine and since all modern cars are heavily computerized it wouldn`t be hard for the computer to know the current load of the engine and produce the appropriate sound.

 

[FloridaRolf]

I love to hear the roaring of my diesel, I don't like all these super quiet modern cars, they just have a "cold" ambience

 

[Morgan C]

I love to hear the roaring of my diesel, I don't like all these super quiet modern cars, they just have a "cold" ambience

Seems like it'd make driving manual an absolute bitch? But I've only driven manual a couple times in my life so I wouldn't really know.

 

[Bekanor]

Fuck the car, James Spader's voice makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

[_Brutalism_]

I love to hear the roaring of my diesel, I don't like all these super quiet modern cars, they just have a "cold" ambience

+1. I want to feel the engine vibrating and hear it coming to life and surging the car forward. So much more metal

 

[John_C]

Seems like it'd make driving manual an absolute bitch? But I've only driven manual a couple times in my life so I wouldn't really know.

Its more about pitch than volume and in general you can feel through the wheel enough anyway.

 

[Skinny Viking]

Fuck the car, James Spader's voice makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Yeah, he has that effect on women

 

[jrt12]

oh shit! i had no idea that was spader, thats awesome. how could you tell? i seem to suck at recognizing the famous voices in commercials. but thats cool to hear that military's been using stuff like this for awhile. i could see them paying huge amounts of money for something like that. but to mass produce it in a consumer vehicle, i just thought it'd be too expensive.

i wonder if the system is dynamic (ie - changes the opposing frequencies with the change of the engine noise) or if its kinda just set, like the engine is loudest at these frequencies, so we'll just pump out these frequencies once the engine goes above a certain speed. and would the microphones point into the cabin? or would they point out at the engine? either way, i just think its a cool way to apply this!

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Its more about pitch than volume and in general you can feel through the wheel enough anyway.

And there's always the tach

 

[Eddy]

And there's always the tach

Unless you drive an old VW. I've got four of them and none of them has it.


About OP: There have been noise canceling headphones on the market for a while now, so it (the technology) is nothing that new.

I wonder how much extra that costs compared to similar model without one.