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New Windshield Replacements May Reduce Car Noise
By gguild | April 21, 2008
New Windshield Replacements Have Better Acoustics.
From the noise of the break to the silence of an acoustic windshield replacement.
Do you own a late model car? Have you ridden recently in a new car—especially a larger one? If you have, you probably noticed how much quieter it is. Some cars are about as quiet as sitting over the wing in a jet airplane, while others seem as quiet as sitting in your living room when the kids are away. Automobile manufacturers go to a great deal of effort to make a car with a luxurious, smooth and quiet ride.
The rushing sound of the air going around your car hits the windshield the hardest, so any effort to quiet the ride for the passengers must begin with the windshield. The new age of acoustic windshield glass has a lot to do with how quiet your ride will be after your windshield replacement. The quietest of cars command the greatest advantage in the automobile marketplace. Anything that can be done to make a car quieter and lighter will increase the value and desirability of the vehicle.
Modern automotive technologies require a quieter passenger compartment
Anyone who has ever tried to use a speech-activated cell phone to access a number to dial when even small amounts of background noise is present, knows that the voice recognition in the cell phone doesn’t always understand the command. In many cars it is difficult to get the cell phone to understand the name of the person to whom you wish to call because of the background noise transmitted through the windshield glass and around the edges of the vehicle. Even when you feel it is quiet enough for the voice activator to hear you properly, it often does not. More and more automobile devices use speech recognition to activate programs. This process is coming to be known as telematics. Telematics is the blending together of wireless technology with computerized operations to create a smooth and simple interface between the user and the system. Aside from cellular telephones with voice-activated dialing, the newer GPS systems that are going into newer cars are also voice activated. Automobiles must have a signal-to-noise ratio favorable enough for the device to understand the spoken word undiffused by background noise.
What creates all the noise we hear while driving?
The noise your hear inside the passenger compartment of any automobile or truck comes from three basic sources: tire noise generated at the road surface, fluctuations in aerodynamic pressure around the windshield and edges of the vehicle’s frame, and noise pressure and vibration generated when another vehicle passes close by. Tire noise, at highway speeds, tends to blow backwards, is at a distance, and is further dissipated by the steel frame, carpet, seats and other obstacles. The wind noise from air pressure impacting the windshield and rapid increases in pressure from passing vehicles is largely transmitted through the windshield as it takes the full-on brunt of the force of air.
When laminated glass began being used for windshield replacements, two characteristics soon became apparent: one, laminated glass is lighter than the same thickness of tempered glass; and second, laminated glass transmitted less noise through it. For automobile manufacturers, both of these features have great appeal.
Newer windshield replacements have enhanced laminated layers that transfer less of the noise
The laminated material in windshields is a plastic known as polyvinyl butyral or PVB. A new, enhanced PVB is now making its way into windshield replacements. This new laminate material, trademarked as Vanceva Super, is even lighter and more resistant to noise transmission. That means new replacement windshields can be made lighter, thinner and still be much quieter, especially in the noise frequency ranges of which is found wind noise and vibration noise from passing vehicles.
If you need a windshield replacement, ask about acoustic laminated windshields
New materials are continuously evolving. Future automobile developments will continue to make cars safer and quieter, and hence, more popular and valuable. If your windshield does not help shield enough of the noise from rushing air, you are probably not enjoying a quiet enough ride. Enjoy the marvels of the new stereo and the pleasantry of good, easy conversation by using acoustic glass in your windshield replacement. If your windshield is not one of the newer acoustic ones, consider replacing it with one at the first convenience.