Flight Simulation Software

8 Sound Generation

Before I speak, I have something important to say.

Groucho Marx

8.1 Sound Waveforms

The cockpit or flight deck of an aircraft is a noisy environment. There are numerous sources of sounds including engines, background noise from the slipstream, electrical generation and air conditioning, occasional sounds from avionics systems and sounds of motor activation deploying flaps and raising and lowering the undercarriage. There is also a wide range of warnings and alarms. All these sounds need to be replicated accurately and combined together to give the sense of an aircraft cockpit or flight deck. Many of these sounds are also synchronised with events. For example, passing overhead a marker beacon activates a beeping sound when the aircraft is close to the beacon or the slipstream sound changes slightly when the undercarriage is lowered.

Strictly, there is very little training benefit from the provision of sound, with the exception of a few sounds that provide a cross-check and the warnings and alarms that enable emergency procedures to be practised. However, a completely silent flight deck would be very unnatural. In moving the engine levers, a pilot would expect to see a change in the relevant instruments and a corresponding change in the sound of the engines. In flight simulation, sound generation fits into the category of immersive or peripheral cues, which provide a sense of being airborne. Although impossible to quantify, the lack of aural cues or the provision ...