Noise-cancelling Toyota Crown zeroes out sounds at head height

As astutely pointed out by our friends at The Red Ferret Journal, it's a bit odd to see hybrid car makers cutting down on noise while electric car makers are looking to add it back in, but Toyota's silence isn't of the kill-a-biker sort. Toyota has worked internal noise-canceling into its new Crown hybrid, with microphones to pick up engine and road noise, and then speakers to blast out antiphase versions of those noises at head height. Toyota claims it can cut noise by around 5 to 8dB.

[Via TRFJ]

[Macro @ Sep 8th 2008 8:32AM]

It's not a car just giant headphones!

[iEye @ Sep 8th 2008 8:33AM]

Wow... I guess more people will be driving around is damaged cars, since this active system will drown out any sounds coming from the crap engine bay...

Personally I enjoy the rough idle sound that comes from my Pontiac Ventura... but then again its not a tree hugging whale kissing moon maiden of a girls car... he he he...

[Apple Rep. @ Sep 8th 2008 10:51AM]

hahahahahah that was so funny.. Oh wait, no it wasn't :)
Lala

[iEye @ Sep 8th 2008 2:06PM]

Oh yea, well I slept with your Wife!

go play with your iPod...

[deedeedee @ Sep 9th 2008 4:30AM]

what a douche

but anyway, does toyota really need to cancel more noise? their cars are quiet enough i cant even notice the engine start.

[benmully @ Sep 8th 2008 8:35AM]

Surely this isn't new? Isn't this how noise cancelling earphones work? Projecting opposite noise to cancel out the din.

[Macro @ Sep 8th 2008 8:42AM]

Yeah but I don't believe it's ever been done in a car. I think it's a great idea personally. I need one of these with John McCain inside! Or me inside, whatever way I can't hear him.

[From My Cube @ Sep 8th 2008 8:51AM]

yes, but i dont believe its been done in a car before

[Ryan Trevisol @ Sep 8th 2008 9:01AM]

I was going to cut up my cheap but effective Audiovox noise-cancelling headphones to experiment with this to filter the aux-in on my car's stereo, if I had known doing so would've gotten me on Engadget, I would've done it sooner.

[RD. @ Sep 8th 2008 9:12AM]

It's not new and a few cars already do it. Some Acura models have had it for years.

[John @ Sep 8th 2008 9:21AM]

You are so cool for knowing things sooner than most people.

[RP @ Sep 8th 2008 8:39AM]

I imagine this will become the bane of the emergency services.

[Alex @ Sep 8th 2008 9:03AM]

not likely. these types of systems cancel out only consistent noise as the controller can't predict what the microphone is going to pick up for sound.

[a @ Sep 8th 2008 11:17AM]

A system to identify a siren / horn and pass it through (or amplify, or turn down the radio to help you know something weird is going on) would be possible, and should be integrated.

As for Alex's comment, I believe you are at least partially wrong. The sound is picked up by microphones and analyzed before it reaches your ears. The speakers then play the same sound, except it is inverted, so your waves 'deconstructively interfere' (cancel out).

It may use a standard sound for the engine, so it can 'predict' this without listening for it (since it will know what the engine sounds like at a given RPM), but for other road noise, it will need to first 'see what it sounds like' before it can attempt to cancel it out. (different pavement sounds different, joints in bridges...).

I'm wondering how much LOUDER the car will be if you move your head out of the sweet spot to grab a tissue or something.

[Chris @ Sep 8th 2008 8:47AM]

When did they add this new login in thing? o.O

[drumdbeat @ Sep 8th 2008 8:53AM]

???

[Spencer @ Sep 8th 2008 8:48AM]

It's nice to use all that energy saved with the hybrid engine on something we don't actually need, instead of say, more mileage.

[ShreDDR @ Sep 8th 2008 9:25AM]

How much energy do you think it will use. ? How much energy do you think the noise cancellation headsets use ?
Its pretty much using your car's audio system + some mics & some extra dsp + some good acoustic design.

I bet you turn the system off as well, Want to know if you drive your car around with the audio system turned off to save energy ????

[Tony @ Sep 8th 2008 11:44AM]

Why would you need to save gas if you bought a Toyota Crown model car?
No one buys luxury cars for their mileage.

[Dull @ Sep 8th 2008 8:54AM]

Is engadget is broadcasting white noise?

[Homer Jay @ Sep 8th 2008 9:00AM]

I dont see this working as well as noise canceling headphones....with the speakers so far away and with multiple targets in the car and moving targets (targest = peoples ears) its going to be hard to ensure that the waves match up and cancel out. With headphones the canceling wave is introduced just before the ear so the waves can cancel properly but in a car where sound is coming from all around but your canceling waves come from only a few sources its not guaranteed to cancel out. This could actually make the noise in a car worse.

[Forrest @ Sep 8th 2008 9:43AM]

That's why it's only reducing the noise by 5-8 dB instead of making the interior sound like a tomb.

What I want to see is noise-canceling for your passengers.

[Janv1er @ Sep 8th 2008 10:03AM]

@ Forrest
'Only' 5-8 dB?
That already quite a lot if you understand anything about decibels...

[Steve @ Sep 8th 2008 9:09AM]

Honda has been doing this for a while. Don't know if their system has been upgraded recently with newer technology.

http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/22/noise-cancelling-honda-cabins/

[John @ Sep 8th 2008 9:20AM]

You are so cool for knowing things sooner than most people.

[TheGasMan @ Sep 8th 2008 10:41AM]

@John
You are so cool for being irritating when other people know things you don't.

[Steve Henderson @ Sep 8th 2008 9:13AM]

Looks like what has been in the Acuta TL-S for a while now. Nothing new.

http://www.acura.com/index.aspx?initPath=TL_Learn_FeaturesOptions_AudioCommunication_AcuraELSSurroundPremiumSou_ActiveNoiseCancellation

[John @ Sep 8th 2008 9:21AM]

You are so cool for knowing things sooner than most people.

[Josh @ Sep 8th 2008 9:52AM]

I think John is a bot.

[MBN @ Sep 8th 2008 9:54AM]

Wow, John. I lost two IQ points just reading your useless posts. Thanks for the contribution.

[John @ Sep 8th 2008 10:19AM]

I'm sorry that words on a screen have such a profound impact on your intelligence! I'm sure the two IQ points you lost were your most favorite, too. Don't go reading too much, now; you wouldn't want to lose any more of the precious few IQ points you have left!

[Ryan @ Sep 8th 2008 10:30AM]

You are so cool for knowing things sooner than most people.

[Mikey @ Sep 8th 2008 9:33AM]

Yes, its been done before, engadget even had an article on it.

http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/22/noise-cancelling-honda-cabins/

I remember a magazine article about this technology in a Lotus Esprit, in the early 90s

[ynx @ Sep 8th 2008 9:36AM]

sounds too complex for it to work 100% accurately.

[Rick @ Sep 8th 2008 9:46AM]

Honda is doing this on the 2008 Accord V6 model to cancel noise from the 3/4/6 Variable Cylinder Management system. They use what they call Active Noise Cancellation to cancel out the harmonics when in 3-cylinder operation.


Saab (the airplane company) used active noise cancellation in their 340 turbo prop to make the cabin quieter.

[Jason @ Sep 8th 2008 10:14AM]

Hopefully they leave a frequency hole in the range the police and ambulance sirens operate at.

[R @ Sep 8th 2008 12:18PM]

That might be tricky-- not all sirens sound the same in all places. If this became more of a wide spread thing, maybe another solution could be considered.

In my own state, they've recently implemented something called the 'Rumbler', which uses low frequency sounds to vibrate cars... Maybe this could be a way around it.

[Acitta @ Sep 9th 2008 12:46AM]

Now if they could only invent an external noise control system for these infernal machines so that pedestrians won't be subjected to the roaring noise pollution emitted by these damn things.

[Abreu @ Sep 8th 2008 12:17PM]

I would hate to have a car with this divice.. I actually like earing the engine. Though muting everyone around me would be nice, dont stand when people that dont know when to shut up!

[Justin @ Sep 8th 2008 6:25PM]

Why on earth do they think this is a good idea? Won't this cause lots of accidents because motorists can't use their ears as another sense while driving? Am I the only sane one here?

Maybe if there was an option to turn it off for long highway drives where road noise becomes annoying it would be OK. For city driving, I predict a lot of fender benders.

[Eddie @ Sep 8th 2008 12:33PM]

This simple technique has been around for at least 25 years. Anybody remember Carver Audio?

Fifteen years ago, I watched a demo video of this system installed in a Lotus. It is quite effective. It's not 100% effective, though. If they're using it to drown out engine noise, it must be cheaper than insulation.

Forrest: Yes, the ability to target the passengers would have great value.

[Rick @ Sep 8th 2008 1:02PM]

Active Noise cancellation works best at low frequencies, I believe. It doesn't appear to work well at high frquencies, at least in consumer applications. Try the Bose or other brand of noise reduction devices on an airplane. They work great for reducing the rush of the outside air and the engine noises at 35,000 feet but are useless for eliminating the yowls of some infant that was screaming for 6 hours in business class yet on the way back from Brussels.

[Jeff @ Sep 8th 2008 1:19PM]

I like hearing my engine and supercharger, thank you very much.

Then again, my car actually has an engine worth hearing...as opposed to any Toy.

[Eddie @ Sep 8th 2008 1:42PM]

Noise cancellation can be tuned to (nearly) eliminate any frequency spectrum, or all of them. I know of no user-tunable devices. I am guessing that, when Bose says "noise," they mean, as defined by them. I suspect that they intentionally did not filter out the human voice frequency range, for safety reasons (This is your captain speaking! Abandon ship!)

To be 100% effective, at whatever frequency, the phase-inverted sound would need to be pumped out at the EXACT SAME TIME as the sampled sound occurred. A processor with ZERO latency would be needed.

Me, I want the point and shoot device.

[Shalin @ Sep 8th 2008 7:54PM]

Whew! I thought this was going to cancel out as much noise as possible - 'cause that would be bad news for emergency vehicles with their lights and *sirens*...

Wait, don't you want to hear a little road and/or noise? Otherwise you don't know if something went wrong!

--S

[Brent @ Sep 8th 2008 4:43PM]

Anyone want to help me hunt down my high school physics teacher? I suggested this use back in the day when we were talking about deconstructive interference and she told me it'd never be done because it'd be too dangerous not to be able to hear anything from outside the car. I should have known then that she was wrong; we all care far more about luxuries than we do about things like not killing people. It was plainly obvious it'd be implemented in no time...

[Brent @ Sep 8th 2008 4:43PM]

SAVE MY PASSWORD

[CHRSI @ Sep 8th 2008 9:03PM]

Finally!! A way to keep passengers in the trunk quiet on their way to their desert retreat!

[Kane @ Oct 6th 2008 8:51PM]

Yeah well, as an Ambulance Paramedic this kind of technology makes my life miserable - do you have any idea how many people don't hear our sirens and get out of the way these days? As if having music blaring or people on the phone wasn't bad enough - and I'll never cease to be amazed as to how many people 'just didn't see' all the flashing lights.