HEARING WHAT YOU CAN’T HEAR

From many years ago, I can still remember the deep, powerful roaring sound I enjoyed when driving my first muscle machine (a 1970 Cuda, 340-cubic-inch engine, 4-barrel carburetor with dual points, and a four-speed pistol-grip shift on the floor). There is always something special about the purr of power emanating from the engine. Apparently, that sound is so enticing and addictive that carmakers today are beginning to pipe the sound into the cabin when modern engine technology is so slick that it would otherwise barely be audible to the driver.

While I’m never one to turn down a lean, mean street machine, I also enjoy the quiet of my drive. So I must admit I felt a bit upset when I first learned that the modern hybrids are so marvelously quiet that carmakers are now entertaining various standards for some level of artificially produced engine noise to aid pedestrian safety. And they aren’t stopping with the hybrids. Some conventional cars and trucks are already piping simulated engine sounds into the cabin.

I still don’t quite buy the argument. I mean, come on! We’re not constantly seeing pedestrians getting injured or killed from the throngs of low-noise bicyclists sharing the roadways, are we? You’re still going to look both ways before you cross the street aren’t you?

Alas, it seems a bit of a setback that when our automotive technology will finally enable super quiet vehicles to populate our streets, we somehow rationalize that we must artificially create the sound they no longer produce naturally. Oh, well. Perhaps having all that engine noise is a good thing. Otherwise, the silence might force us to think.