How Quiet is Too Quiet? - October 2nd, 2007
I’ve run into a number of articles lately discussing the danger nearly silent hybrid vehicles present to the blind. Last night I had the interesting experience of actually listening to a Prius for the first time. I was walking into the grocery store and heard a buzzing sound I didn’t recognize. Glancing up I realized that the car moving past was a Prius and the humming was coming from its electric motor.
This was about 6:30 in the evening and the parking lot was normally busy for that time of day, but certainly couldn’t duplicate the sound of a noisy city street. I have really good hearing — bat ears according to some of my friends, but since I can never remember hearing a Prius before, I can only chalk it up to one of two things (a) I wasn’t paying attention before or (b) I’ve never been near one in circumstances quiet enough to hear it.
Since the blind do get sound cues from their environment to navigate, this seems to be a truly relevant concern. While most of us like the idea of a super quiet engine lowering the potential for noise pollution, this may be one angle the engineers just didn’t think through.
Update: See this article from the International Herald Tribune for more on this subject.
Posted on October 2nd, 2007 by Shorty
Filed under: general |
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