Study of sound and cabin touchpoint contributions to subjective perception of secondary ride

Subjective perception of vehicle secondary ride is dependent on simultaneous touchpoint vibrations and audible inputs to the receiver. Standards such as ISO 2361 provide guidelines for objective measurement of human body thresholds to vibration. However, when a human experiences multiple vibration and aural input from the road, it becomes complicated to judge each individual contribution to the overall subjective perception. Additional factors such as ambient conditions, ergonomics, age, gender etc. also play a role. Secondary ride, which is defined as energy in the 10-30Hz range, is one such event that affects the customers perception of ride comfort and quality. The goal of this work is to develop a Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH) simulator model of a vehicle driving over cleats and execute a secondary ride jury study. The aim of the study is to rank the contributions of each touch point input and sound to the overall subjective perception of secondary ride during these cleat events. Touch points considered in this study are floor, steering wheel, seat back, seat pad/cushion and driver ear level noise.