Engine Sound Quality Evaluation Using Semantic Differential Method

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
There is an emerging effort in the automotive industry to explore a new horizon of quality, e.g. sensory comfort, beyond the traditional measure of reliability and durability. This is evidenced by the birth of a new engineering field, referred to here as sensory engineering. The objective is to evaluate and characterize human's feeling and incorporate these findings into the engineering and design of the product. In this paper, engine sounds from various passenger vehicles were examined using this approach. Five sound samples under wide-open-throttle acceleration condition and five under constant speed conditions were evaluated using the semantic differential method. Results showed that subject's perception of these sounds can be very well characterized in a semantic space made of three factor axes. Significant difference of mean factor scores appeared along ‘smooth, reliable, & desirable’, ‘loud/whining’, and ‘special & modern’ axes. These results can be used to refine the engine design to achieve a better acoustic quality of the engine.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: