I'll bet you're right. There must've been considerable noise, too.
Cobblestone roads, iron horseshoes, and iron rims on the chariot wheels = considerable noise and flying debris. They wouldn't be going much faster than a trot on long trips, that wouldn't be so bad, but around town chariots were a terror. The stories from Pompeii tell of pedestrians leaping for their lives to get out of the way of the young men in their galloping chariots.