I'm extremely skeptical this is something that can be addressed by noise cancellation, either.
Just saying that there are probably lots of different noise reduction techniques that all add up their percentages, but these will only be put in place if noise pollution is taken as serious as it needs to be.
In this case, it will put pressure to avoid, or reduce, noise when possible (as it directly lowers costs). It's not only cars - all neighbors with a passion for loud music (or quarrels), repair works taking longer and louder than necessary.
Where the engine noise was noticeable was low speed intersections when cars would accelerate and the tire noise would be negligible.
Buses/trains are relatively quiet, outside of a few edge cases like tracks scraping or honking when someone's in their way - rare occurrences.
In Britain, within towns there's usually gates on either side of the road, so it's not necessary for the train to use its horn.
My first apartment was outside a level crossing frequented by Amtrak and Union Pacific. The federally required horn blasts - 2 long, 1 short, 1 long - overwhelm anything you might be doing or thinking about, resonate in your chest cavity. The building shakes, and the air becomes thick with diesel fumes and sediment kicked up from the railroad bed.
After an hour, I forget that the freeway is even there.
Also a fair amount of noise generated by cars is not the engine; for example, you have the sound of the tires rolling on the pavement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadway_noise
"...rolling tires driving on pavement is found to be the biggest contributor of highway noise which increases with higher vehicle speeds."
Most states have very lax inspection requirements.
Even in my state, which supposedly is one of the strictest on inspections, it's surprisingly easy to have a dangerous failing car pass.
Living near a busy intersection you hear all sorts of weird mechanical failures as cars brake and accelerate from the stoplight.
Intersection sounds like <35 mph, so you are agreeing with me.
I have a weird obsession with road noise and how it relates to road surface construction.
In short, the road noise from tyres is due to air being compressed by the tread and then released again. It's basically a constant rolling version of clapping your hands.
Modern formulations of tarmac are designed to settle with air channels (called voidage) to provide an exhaust for that air, significantly reducing the volume. If you want more information on a couple of types, look up stone-matrix asphalt or open-graded friction course. Concrete on the other hand is notoriously poor for sound reduction, because the surface is so much smoother.
As a rough rule of thumb, quietened surfaces come in at 6-9db lower than a comparable non-quietened surface.
ARFC is another kind, made of recycled rubber mixed as a secondary aggregate. It's commonly used as a quiet and long lasting surface in parts of the US, and has the advantage of being a good product for using up waste tyres. In the UK we have different compounds, which do similar things. The M4 between Swindon and Bristol is a particular treat to drive on acoustically.
Undersurface is potentially an issue too. For example, concrete surfaced in mono-aggregate based tarmac has a tendency to resonate and "sing". Concrete with undulations does the same, though for different reasons.
I could go on for some time but it's kinda dull.
I find civil engineering is often quite interesting, because the tradeoffs and issues can be surprisingly inobvious.
I've always been fascinated by sound and how people perceive it. I'm also a classical pianist and guitarist, amongst other things, which may explain it, or be caused by it. Who knows?
It's not something I thought other people would care to read about though, hence never doing it. Maybe time to re-evaluate that.
I find it obnoxious and I am a motorcyclist.
While we wait for that why can't architects/planners take soundproofing more seriously (if they've considered it at all) and actually make the walls and windows inside a building soundproof. It's not even outside noise, I lived in apartments where I could hear my adjacent neighbors.
When I come to an intersection I have to be especially conscientious because pedestrians are use to engine noise bouncing down the road ahead of the car. People have walked out in front of me unaware of my existence. I normally mouth, “Surprise, motha fucka” or “I’m Batman” when that happens.
On one hand, I think it's dumb because why am I explicitly making noise? So I turned it off. But then I scared the living hell out of two shopping ladies when I unintentionally crept up behind them, and now I always leave it on.
I guess it's somewhat a matter of what you're used to. I grew up pre-Walkman and have just never gotten into the habit of wearing earphones like that.
> We could have big houses, with windows that shutter in the summer mornings to keep out every bit of the too-early light of dawn, or shutter in the night to leave the stars absolutely untouched. We could have roofs that let in the sun.
oh god, yes please!
[0] https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/1/20676854/electric-cars-art...
I too enjoy cycling and understand that there are serious safety problems involved with cars and bikes sharing the road and that and most of our cities have done a poor job of dealing with them. I don't think keeping around legacy noise pollution is the answer. It reminds me of this: https://xkcd.com/1172/
Like? (Don't limit yourself to the easy-to-introduce-today; not everywhere has established road infrastructure, and your ideas could be used there.)
We have to stop treating noise as a mere annoyance or as something that "Karens" bitch about because of their priviledge.
It's polution, a health issue, something that ruins quality of life, and for people with certain health issues can be a chronic problem. It prevents people from sleeping, focusing, lowers productivity, make people "dumber", you name it.
In a lot of ways, the impact of noise can be similar to that of lead pipes. And we act like we can just tell people to deal with it, and that white noise machines and earplugs (hello ear infections!) are a solution (spoiler. I use both and it barely makes a dent in the noise sometimes).
Increasingly, modern car drivers are enclosed in noise dampened, environmentally controlled environments with some sort of sound entertainment playing (music, podcast, talkback radio). So car drivers are less able to make good use of sound and other cues for detecting other traffic.
The lack of sound from hybrid cars, for example the Toyota Prius when accelerating in electric mode, has caught me by surprise while cycling. Not knowing you are about to be overtaken can be dangerous because there is an instinctive fight/flight response which can cause a sudden flinch or overreaction away from the surprise and you naturally turn your head to look at the perceived danger. As you are normally cycling on the edge of the roadway there is a higher potential to now accidentally ride over/into an obstruction (drainage grate, kerb, pothole) and come off your bike.