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MagLev Trains Annoyingly Loud

Posted by michael on from the chattanooga-choo-choo dept.

crem_d_genes writes "You might hear that whistle blowing from that train coming 'round the bend, but tapes of the sounds produced by magnetically levitated and normal trains produced a result that was something of a surprise: Most people rated maglev trains as more disturbing than standard intercity trains. It had been previously known that the two types were about equally loud, but this study analyzed people's reactions to them. Since the effects on the environment will be part of the feasibilty studies for future development, acoustical engineers will have some new challenges. Some participants in the study said the sound made them 'feel insecure, some found it startling, and disliked the occasional shrill sound the maglevs produced.' The researcher postulated that unfamiliarity with the noise might be part of the problem."

4 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. Maglev audio/video clips by MrZaius · · Score: 5, Informative

    Videos of maglev trains, with sound. My apologies in advance to the host.

    Let the /.'ing commence!

  2. Re:Odd thing about trains... by raider_red · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can hear them better because there's less vehicular traffic during the night. When a city is on the move during the day, all the cars effectively produce a blanket of white noise that reduces your perception of all the other sounds.

    --
    It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
  3. Re:Audio links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are some videos on the German Transrapid project here:

    http://www.transrapid.de/de/medien/video.html

    They're mostly commercials, but you can get an idea of how it sounds like (try the "Test Facility Emsland" video).

  4. Not surprising by spahn · · Score: 5, Informative

    The frequency content of a sound has a lot to do with how comforting or annoying a sound is. Incredible ammounts of money have been spent on this in the auto industry alone. Studies are done on the sounds of a car door closing to find the sound that makes people feel the most secure when the door has closed. What they've found is that the sounds of car doors closing with more energy in the low end of the frequency spectrum makes people feel more secure in the sound of a door closing.

    Now lets apply this to trains. Normal freight trains generally produce a lot of low frequency sounds. Generally around 300Hz and below. Now the maglev trains could be a lot quieter, but if they make higher frequency sounds, even at lower dB levels, the sound will seem a lot more annoying than freight trains.