Three Inventions
1. A car radio that gets louder as the background noise gets louder, so that the listener continues hear equally well.
2. An amplifier for communication between the front and the back of a mini-van.
3. A sensor that tells you how much cumulative exposure to ultraviolet rays you have gotten at the beach. This would be like a radiation sensor, except that it could be reset at any time.
December 2nd, 2006 at 7:36 pm
A turn-signal that shuts itself off after (say) a mile, so the drivers around you on the freeway need not worry that you still might be planning a lane-shift.
December 7th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
My 1980 Nissan/Datsun had a radio that was an analog of what you want. It flattened the volume. So — in the extreme — if you played Bolero it sounded like the same thing a million times. But was really good for most music with normal dynamics that would play while road-driving. I have no idea if they still make them. No subsequent cars of mine ever were so equipped.
December 7th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
They actually have some steros that do this:
Infinity has one: http://www.carzunlimited.com/review_00024.html
So does JVC: http://mobile.jvc.com/product.jsp?pathId=54&modelId=MODL015070&page=1
Here is a copy of sony’s patent for one version: http://www.priorartdatabase.com/IPCOM/000127430/
December 7th, 2006 at 1:15 pm
Many luxury cars have invention number one. So does the Toyota Prius but only if you have the bluetooth cell-phone option. Why? Because that requires a microphone inside the car making the volume normalizer a software change, not hardware.
Anton, if you leave my parents’ [Pontiac] minivan’s turn signal on, it makes a loud beeping noise that in no way suggests you just left your turn signal on.
December 7th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Alex, there are fairly good proxies for background noise available in base model Priuses; speed is the most obvious one.
-dk
December 7th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Wish number one already exists in many car radios, except that it’s tied to the speedometer, which is a pretty good proxy for background noise.
Wish number 3 granted http://www.wirelessalarm.com/NU300.htm. I also recall seeing cheap disposable things that do the same thing.
December 7th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Our old (~96?) Toyota Land Cruiser adjusted the stereo volume based on the car’s speed. There was a ring around the volume knob that controlled how sensitive the radio volume would be to car speed.
I always wished it had been keyed in to whether the windows were open—speed doesn’t make *so* much noise if the windows are closed.
And a microphone doesn’t sound like a great idea. If I’m trying to talk over the radio, I don’t want the radio getting louder…
Luke
December 7th, 2006 at 8:25 pm
A friend of mine’s Volvo had the speed-adjust-volume thing. Except that it only had used about 4 volume levels, so there were steps, cleverly placed at various common highway cruising speeds. It was comical for a bit, and after that very irritating…
December 7th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
Jim’s link to the UV detector is a good one. It looks like the device is just what I was thinking of, at cost $80.
December 8th, 2006 at 10:15 am
The new Honda Civics (and other Hondas presumably) have a feature that increases the volume of the radio as one travels faster (since the exterior noise increases as this happens). As others have mentioned, systems like this are a feature on many cars these days.
December 8th, 2006 at 11:36 am
1. A car radio that gets louder as the background noise gets louder, so that the listener continues hear equally well.
My 1997 bare bones Chevy Cavalier had a radio with the option of the volume increasing with the speed of the car.