Originally Posted by AndrewJB

I used to dislike my bikes/wheels with the louder hubs. But, I now view louder hubs as a "safety feature"!
When I am approaching pedestrians, and other cyclists, if I pause my peddling, the hub noise alerts the pedestrians & cyclist that someone is approaching.
Try it, I think you will find it is quite effective, at least in my experience it is, they will turn and look, but it doesn't seem to startle them, works especially on MUPs and other locations when the ambient noise is not too high.