CES 2019: Bose QuietComfort Road Noise Control Unveiled for Quieter Rides

The QuietComfort technology from Bose performs an excellent job at active noise cancellation, and the company is now bringing the QuietComfort magic to automobiles too. Bose has announced QuietComfort Road Noise Control (RNC), an active sound management solution for cars which aims to cancel out all the noise generated by an automobile's movement to provide a quieter ride experience. Bose will collaborate with automobile manufacturers across the world to provide customised QuietComfort Road Noise Control (RNC) hardware for their vehicles which include small cars, trucks, and SUVs. The technology aims to reduce noise generated from the road itself, and how the car reacts to it. External noise itself, which may be crucial for the driver to hear, will not be cancelled out by the RNC tech.

Bose has revealed that QuietComfort Road Noise Control (RNC) employs a combination of hardware-based audio sensing and algorithm to identify the noise and cancel them out. Bose's innovation utilises the accelerometer to pick up vibrations which create the noise at different frequencies. Once the noise is picked, an algorithm automatically analyses it and creates a second wave which is transmitted through the speakers to acoustically cancel the noise frequency and keep to cabin's residual noise levels to a bare minimum.

Even more impressive is the fact that the algorithm identifies and generates a cancellation wave in a matter of milliseconds as soon as the sensors pick up noise signals. QuietComfort RNC will always remain in an active state and perform its noise cancellation task over a broad range of frequencies while simultaneously adapting to uneven surfaces such as potholes. The algorithm even takes into account the changes in frequency caused by old and new tyres.

Moreover, tiny microphones that are a part of the system also measure the sound waves in the cabin and intelligently optimise them to further boost the performance of Bose's noise cancellation solution for cars. The company's QuietComfort RNC solution will be available for cars that employ Bose's premium sound systems and will make its way to vehicles hitting the roads by the end of 2021. As for automobile makers, they can work with Bose and specify the precise sound characteristics of their vehicles to make the noise cancellation process even more effective.