Why does newly paved asphalt sound so much quieter when driving over it?

Question

Why does newly paved asphalt sound so much quieter when driving over it?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

Imagine how a drum or an acoustic guitar makes noise. There’s a hollow area for the sound to reverberate through. Old roads have a rough surface, so there’s lots of little spaces under your tires to reverberate and create noise. New pavement is smoother, so there’s less space for the sound of your tires rolling over it to propagate. This also why mud tires are louder, the deep treads give the sound room to reverberate inside the treads.