Noise cancelling Honda cabins
By Dan Wu 
posted November 22nd 2004 2:07AM
posted November 22nd 2004 2:07AM
Just like those
USB noise-cancelling headphones, Honda now offers Active
Noise Control in their top of the line Odyssey minivans and the new Acura RL luxury sedan. The system uses a microphone
to hear what the driver and passengers hear, analyzes it with an onboard computer, and pipes out a cancelling sound via
the stereo system. The Detroit Free Press found the new Odyssey a bit quieter than the 2004 version, but the reviewer
states that the real fun will happen when wind and road noise cancelling systems, now currently in development,
debut.
[Via Autoblog]
I'd have to agree with the Detroit Free Press. At that point high-end super cars can have quieter cabins without a need for sound insulation (which most don't use too much of for weight concerns).
Heck, if they make retrofit kits after road/wind noise cancelling systems are built and become relatively commonplace, then I'd guess they'd become increadibly popular amoungst the car modding set as removal of sound insulation for weight reduction and the addition of odd little bits of decorative fibreglass would increase road/wind-noise in the cabin.
Now - if this technology could silence the sound of two screaming children - I'm buying the first one off the lot!
How about a child noise cancelling device? ;D
Sounds like a great device, however there would be some concern if it also canceled out sirens. People have a hard enough time hearing emergency vehicles without additional noise cancellation.
I'd be concerned about not hearing not only sirens, but any road or car noise that might indicate something's wrong or at least out of the ordinary. And wind noise is a good clue it's windy and you should maybe slow down and drive more carefully. Seems like a bad idea to me.
Didn't Lotus make a special edition Esprit with active noise cancellation sometime in the early '90s?
ANC works best on continuous "drones" such as wind, road and engine noise. Sirens and other noises will still make it though, although they may sound clipped. I've used a pair of ANC headphone on a plane and while the background noises were filtered out, I could hear the flight attendant (and screaming babies) perfectly.
Um, cars already have these. Read about the Bose system in Mazda's RX-8 (http://www.mazdausa.com/rx8).
I've recently test driven a Honda Odessey 2005 EXL which is supposed to have the active noise control. The dealer did not know anything about it, so my questions went unanswered. However, the Honda web page maintains that it is in there (in the EXL and touring models) but does not offer much in the way of information about this device. The engine is very quiet, but there is no risk that you can't tell if something is wrong or if a siren were in the vacinity. This type of noise is still audible and is not drowned out by the ANC. However, I can assure you (as my kids were sitting in the back seat during the test drive), this product does not eliminate their noise.
Hey,
What about ANC for the home. We live near a noisy road. I'd like to be able to "cancel" or filter out some of the road, engine, motorcycle, etc., noise out of my music.
Also that idiot's leafblower, and his dog and, and, and...
Thanks for listening.
Steve Cobb