Nissan develops EV “lullaby” to help kids sleep

MANILA: Tired of hearing “Are we there yet?” Nissan has come up with a solution that should put an end to that problem.

In the absence of the sleep-inducing frequencies produced by internal combustion engines, Nissan, in cooperation with Sound Designer and Sleep Coach Tom Middleton, has created a world-first lullaby specifically designed for electric vehicles to help parents send their young children to sleep.

This unique lullaby is made up of five three-minute tracks that blend sounds of the Nissan Leaf with frequencies produced by a humming combustion engine, sans the carbon cost, to create a hypnotic soundscape to help young children to sleep in the car.

To find out what frequencies send kids to sleep, Tom and Nissan’s engineers identified the differences between EV and combustion vehicles through simulated drives and frequency visualizations. These sounds are similar to the frequencies in a string orchestra, generating a mixture of white, pink, and brown noise frequencies.

Armed with that information, Tom then sought out interdisciplinary researcher Ari Peralta to identify the white, pink and brown noise frequencies emitted by combustion engines, but which were missing from the Nissan Leaf.

Using the data results, Tom Middleton and Ari Peralta recorded all the individual interior and exterior sound effects of a Nissan Leaf and Nissan Qashqai at Nissan Technical Centre Europe in a semi-anechoic chamber. The recordings included all of the elements one may hear on a typical drive, such as:

• Keys
• Indicator
• Air-conditioning
• Engine startup
• Seats
• Fabrics
• Interior material texture sounds
• Accelerating and decelerating
• On the road live recordings

The combination of the recordings and the various frequencies was an orchestra with powerful lulling effects for babies and young children. “Although an electric vehicle like the Nissan Leaf is a more environmentally considerate choice for ‘dream driving;’ the quiet soundscape of an EV might not be as effective as internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. Combustion engines transmit a sound frequency, a combination of white, pink, and brown noise varied in tone – creating an orchestral soundscape that is especially soothing and comforting to young children,” according to Paul Speed-Andrews, noise and vibration development manager at Nissan.

“One of the biggest worries new parents have is how to get their baby to sleep. Parents soon realize that taking a drive in the car or ‘dream driving’ is a great way to get a baby or young child to nod off. But how interesting that it’s the sound frequencies of a combustion engine, rather than the movement, that helps children fall asleep. With the 100% electric Nissan LEAF, environmentally aware parents now have a simple, guilt-free solution to gently lull their little ones to sleep,” said parenting expert Elizabeth O’Shea.

“Nissan’s zero-emission lullaby combines early auditory development research with creative strategy and is inspired by the audible and inaudible sounds of the Nissan Leaf,” said sound designer and sleep coach Tom Middleton. “In addition to the combustion engine frequencies that only children can hear – which help lull them to sleep – every sound you can hear comes from building an orchestra of sounds and rhythms from interior and exterior recordings of the Leaf.”

Continued Middleton, “Together with Nissan, we are finding innovative, health and safety-conscious ways to apply functional sound within EVs that goes beyond the vehicle itself, effectively inspiring a new generation of purpose-driven, human-first car design, and functionality.”

Also read: Nissan made minor updates to the 2020 Nissan Leaf