It all began in 2011, when a Nissan engineer invited me to a special session at Inter-noise 2011 in Osaka. By then, I had already presented my work on electric vehicle sounds—what we now call AVAS (Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System)—at the JSAE Spring Conference 2010. That presentation opened the door for me.
The session I attended at inter-noise was a “secret” discussion not listed in the official program. There, I met Prof. Dr. Klaus Genuit, the founder of HEAD acoustics. To my surprise, he recognized me as one of the leading sound designers in the world. Since then, he has often invited me to join open sessions at conferences.
For electric vehicle sounds, I strongly believed that entirely new methods were needed. Because EV sound is artificial and additional, traditional approaches to engine sound had to be reorganized and reinterpreted. In a sense, everything was possible. My EVSP (Electric Vehicle Signal Processing) methods were built on this idea, focusing especially on frequency dynamics—the way engine order frequencies change with time or rpm.
Later, I also developed two unpublished concepts. The first was about distance perception: just as in Formula One, the sound of an approaching car plays a crucial role in how humans perceive distance. The second was a special design for Inter-noise 2013 in Innsbruck, a city famous for Swarovski. Having previously designed sound for the Honda concept car PUYO, I created a “Swarovski version” of PUYO sound—bright, crystalline, and unique.
I would like to thank Dr. Klaus Genuit for recognizing my work as a sound designer and for his continuous encouragement.
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