[In Japan, a baby crying in public is considered a nuisance. ]

In Japan, there are people who think that a baby crying in public is a nuisance. Some of them strongly criticize mothers that they were “harassed” by crying baby, making mothers overly afraid of their infants crying in public. In fact, in a recent Honda survey, over 75% of mothers responded that “going out of the house is a hassle because I worry about my child crying.” But in reality, it’s completely natural for an infant to cry in an environment that it isn’t used to. As a company that supports mobility, Honda considered what it could do to help mothers who worry about leaving the house with their babies.

[The sound of a car engine puts babies at ease.]

The key was the sound of a car’s engine. According to acoustics specialists, the sound of a car engine is similar in frequency to the sound a baby hears in the womb and has the potential to put babies at ease. Honda conducted an experiment to test this. Of the infants who were made to listen to the engine sound of the Honda sportscar NSX (which has the closest frequency to the waveform inside the mother’s womb), 11 out of 12 infants stopped crying, and the heart rate of 7 infants stabilized.

Based on these results, Honda developed the SOUND SITTER, a stuffed car-shaped toy for mothers on the go. With a built-in speaker, the toy calms and reassures babies by playing back engine sounds even when out and about.

Honda released a movie summarizing the project and held an experiential event where people could try out the Honda SOUND SITTER. Honda also released the car engine sound for free on a dedicated website, enabling anyone to hear it from their smartphone.

• It reached over 51,000,000 media impressions without any media costs.

• The product featured on many media (including overseas media), where it was introduced as a new item for mothers on the go to stop babies crying.

• The product brought visibility and awareness to mothers who worry about going out with their babies.

• The product received positive feedback from mothers who could relate, especially through social media (over 2,000,000 engagemets).

• The movie about the project was played over 4,000,000 times.

• Brand engagement levels increased by 400%.