BMW Innovation Days : a New World of Acoustic Experience

Press release
Source: BMW

In historical terms, acoustics in automotive design and construction serves to avoid and suppress unwanted noise. The driver should not be disturbed by any squeaking, rattling, whistling or thumping noise, and should not be induced to query the car’s quality.


Soon, however, the BMW Group recognised the potential of sound design seeking to create sounds in the vehicle that are particularly attractive and even appealing.

So you feel like cruising in town with the deep rumble of a V8 and, just a bit later, breezing along winding roads with the muscular and sporting sound of a BMW straight-six? To experience that kind of thrilling diversity, all you have to do is try out the MINI prototype developed by the BMW Group’s acoustics engineers where the driver, using active sound design, can change the sound of the engine at the touch of a button.

Being interactive, the sound of an engine is highly emotional. It responds to the driver, to your foot on the gas pedal, to the speed of the car. And we know not just from motorsport that the sound of the engine can easily give you goose bumps. Precisely this is why active sound design offers a great potential in emotionalising the driving experience, with a subjective sensation of driving dynamics easily infl uenced by sound.

“Driving dynamics is more than just metres/sec2.” (Dr Fabian Evert, BMW Group Sound Designer)