Sound and Safe

"This wonderfully researched and written book charts the fascinating history of our relationship to the sound of automobiles. From the individual strategies and skills embodied in listening to the sound of our engines to the commercial practices that have standardized and marketed those sonic experiences. Sound and Safe is a major contribution to our understanding of the culture of the automobile."--Michael Bull, author of Sound Moves: iPod Culture and Urban Experience"Most music is listened to in cars. Karin Bijsterveld and her colleagues in this fascinating well-researched book, part of the new interdisciplinary field of sound studies, trace mainly in European contexts how cars have become auditory bubbles cocooned from their surroundings." --Trevor Pinch, Cornell University"Deeply researched, highly compelling, and utterly original, Sound and Safe will be of immense interest to scholars of sound studies, automotive culture, and cultural, business, and engineering history. In unprecedented detail, it explains the acoustemological history of automotive culture, explaining how cars were heard, why they were listened to in particular ways, and how their sounds and their silences have come to define the driving experience. A splendid, absorbing, and important book." --Mark M. Smith, University of South Carolina