Understanding Opinion Forming Processes During On-Road Evaluations of Whole Vehicle Sound Quality

To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of decision making during vehicle development programmes, new interactive NVH simulation tools have been introduced. For their optimum use during the target setting of NVH attributes new methodologies need to be established. A valuable step in achieving this is to further understand opinion forming processes during on-road appraisals. To achieve this however new approaches to capture the events of an appraisal are needed.

This paper reports on the first steps taken towards developing these new approaches and demonstrates how attitudes towards vehicle sound quality and driver behavior can vary depending on the personality traits of the assessor and their role within the OEM.

This insight will provide a benchmark to compare how expert assessors and customers make decisions.