Deliberately generated sounds
The developers at Škoda are not just looking at acoustics in terms of airflow, though: that’s just one discipline. For example, the Czech carmaker has two state-of-the-art acoustic measuring chambers with cylindrical dynamometers, which allow a car’s noise in general to be measured while simulating driving on different surfaces. Here, not only is powertrain noise measured (including exhaust noise in cars with internal combustion engines), but also other sounds that the car and its individual parts make when driving. Škoda also carries out driving tests in all kinds of climatic conditions, on its own test polygon and around the world.
Here, too, the advent of electric cars is making the work of acousticians perhaps even more important. “Internal combustion engines mask a lot of sounds, but electric cars are so quiet that even the slightest noise will stand out. This increases the acoustic requirements placed on all the parts of the vehicle. Drivers may be unnecessarily distracted by unfamiliar noises and may even think there is something wrong with the car when everything is in fact working perfectly. This can sometimes have dangerous consequences,” explains Filip Nováček.
Filip Nováček in the acoustic chamber
In most cases, the developers try to eliminate noises, but with engines or exhausts, for example, it’s also about tuning the sound in a pleasing way. And with electric cars and plug-in hybrids, there is even deliberately generated sound. That’s the sound these cars make when driving at low speeds, when they are otherwise dangerously quiet for pedestrians. The Enyaq iV family of electric cars also has its own original sound that alerts pedestrians to the moving car. Developing a sound like this is a real science.