How do driving sounds influence the subjective evaluation of longitudinal acceleration?

Abstract

The evaluation of vehicle interior sounds in a listening study is always based on multiple sensory interactions. In a driving simulator several visual and somatosensory stimuli are presented to the test subjects in addition to the pure driving sounds. These multisensory stimuli are processed consciously and unconsciously by the human brain. Thus attention processes and also the evaluation behavior change in comparison to monosensory acoustical experiments. In the automotive industry electric powered vehicles currently are a hot topic. These vehicles have a very quiet noise behavior compared to vehicles with combustion engines. So the question arises how driving sounds comprise to the subjective evaluation of a vehicle's acceleration. Do we associate loud driving sounds with strong acceleration? Which part takes the spectral structure of a sound? In a comparative listening study different vehicle interior sounds and different accelerations were evaluated in two different driving simulators. Based on the results from the study the influence of driving sounds on the subjective evaluation of longitudinal acceleration is discussed.