Invitation to the SIA NVH 2025 Congress: Compose with Us the Sounds of Electrons
By Jean-François Rondeau, Technical Product Line Director at Treves and Vice President of the NVH Expert Community
Dear colleagues, dear experts of the NVH community,
For decades, our community has been the guardian of a fundamental pillar of automotive excellence: acoustic and vibrational comfort in the cabin. We have tracked the slightest vibration, mastered rolling and aerodynamic noises, and turned silence into a hallmark of quality. This legacy, the fruit of unparalleled technical expertise, forms the foundation on which we are preparing to build a revolution. Because the era of the electric vehicle does not merely shift our challenges—it reinvents them entirely.
The absence of the combustion engine leaves us with a blank sonic canvas, a relative silence that, paradoxically, reveals and amplifies noises previously masked: the high frequencies of power electronics, road and wind sounds. This new reality propels us beyond our traditional role as mitigation engineers. It invites us to become composers, architects of the acoustic experience. The title of our congress, “The Sounds of Electrons”, embodies this remarkable transition.
Our future is shaped by two major strategic axes. The first is external sound design (Soundscaping). It is no longer just about meeting a regulatory safety requirement for pedestrians, but about crafting a sound signature that defines the vehicle’s identity and positively contributes to the urban acoustic environment. This is both a technical and societal responsibility that extends to all usage conditions, including noises generated by charging stations.
The second axis is the exciting realm of in-cabin audio user experience (UX). The cabin transforms into an immersive and customizable cocoon. Our mission is to design sound environments that adapt to the driver, integrate immersive and spatialized audio for unparalleled entertainment, and optimize Human-Machine Interface (HMI) signals to make driving more intuitive and safe. Sound becomes a central player in the dialogue between humans and machines.
To meet these challenges, we must leverage cutting-edge tools. Psychoacoustics becomes essential for understanding human perception of these new sounds. AI and machine learning offer unprecedented possibilities for adaptive noise cancellation technologies and real-time personalization.
It is to debate these topics, share our advancements, and collectively define the standards of tomorrow that I have the immense honor of inviting you to the SIA NVH 2025 Congress. Join us on October 8th and 9th at Le Mans, a legendary place where performance has always been reinvented.
Together, let’s write the next score for the automobile.