Red cars perceived louder than green or blue ones

How much does color factor into your perception of how loud a car actually is? If a recently-conducted experiment is any indication, it plays a significant part, indeed. Sixteen individuals were told to listen to the sound of a car's engine while being shown photographs of identical cars in red, blue, light green, or dark green. The sounds were played at four different volume levels throughout the testing. The findings showed that the red car was perceived to be louder than the green or blue cars, even if the corresponding sound the others were shown with was of an equal level. This dovetailed with the results of a similar, earlier experiment which demonstrated that people felt red trains were louder than green ones. This is both good news and bad news for car owners. On the plus side, those Borlas you just installed are going to sound even louder (read: better) to folks if your ride's red. Unfortunately, when Officer Friendly pulls you over for having mufflers that are too noisy, good luck convincing him that it's really just his perception and not reality. Thanks for the tip, Buzz!

[Source: Acoustics.org]