Sound Quality Development Using Psychoacoustic Parameters with Special Focus on Powertrain Noise

This research uses vehicle interior noise at the driver position during full load acceleration to objectively define the resultant Sound Quality (SQ) of the vehicle analyzed by focusing on powertrain noise. A calculation method is developed to rank vehicles in order of customer preference (Sound Rank) and provide a subjective evaluation score for different error states a vehicle can encounter. In order to calculate these two scores, a pleasantness parameter is obtained using standard calculated psychoacoustic parameters with different weighting scores depending on their importance toward the preference ranking. Then pleasantness is correlated with jury test results and subjective evaluations.

The results obtained show that the model is capable of quantifying the vehicle SQ during the vehicle development process and position a vehicle within a two-dimensional (2D) powerful-refined plot. This is achieved with the help of psychoacoustic parameter scatter bands. The model provides an objective tool to quantify and verify the resultant SQ to help meet and optimize Noise, Vibration, and Harshness (NVH) targets.