The exterior and interior noise level of passenger cars has been reduced in the past to a large extent by legislation and on the demand of the car purchasers. One important marketing aspect today is the possibility to enjoy driving, which is determined by the noise quality and not the noise level inside passenger cars. However the interior noise quality of today's passenger cars does not always satisfy the people affected.
In the development process of a vehicle, the noise quality is determined on a subjective basis by test drivers. A great deal of experience and time is required for the subjective assessment and for the further definition of strategies and their application to meet sound engineering targets for noise quality.
This paper reports on the result of a R&D program to develop a software based Noise Quality Map with which the interior noise quality of passenger cars can be determined on an objective basis by measurement in real-time. With this Noise Quality Map software, real-time evaluations of passenger car interior noise quality over the entire vehicle operation range is now possible, reducing testing time by more than a factor of 10 and, at the same time, obtaining reliable objective results.
These results can be used for benchmarking, as noise quality targets and in combination with standard acoustic techniques for effective vehicle sound engineering.