A vehicle system is described that enables an in-vehicle device (e.g., a steering wheel, a steering wheel cover, etc.) to provide visual and/or haptic alerts indicating the direction from which sounds are captured via various microphones or other audio sensors of the vehicle originated. The vehicle system may, after receiving explicit permission from a user (e.g., a driver, a hearing-impaired person, etc.), use user equipment (e.g., a mobile phone, a smartphone, a cellular phone, a portable device, a handheld device, a mobile terminal, a portable terminal, etc.) to detect noises (e.g., honking, sirens, crashes, accidents, pedestrian shouts/yells, etc.) outside the vehicle and cause the in-vehicle device to generate warning lights and/or vibrations based on the detected noises outside the vehicle. For example, the vehicle system may analyze audio data captured by microphones to determine if the audio captured is indicative of an alert-triggering event. Based on the analysis of audio data, the vehicle system may further determine a direction of the alert-triggering event and cause the in-vehicle device to generate warning lights and/or vibrations in a portion that corresponds to the direction of the triggering event for alerting
