Abstract:

The influence of amplitude and frequency-modulated complex tones on the perceived quality of power window regulator noise is examined in this paper. Modulation characteristics of sounds generated by electro-mechanical actuators in automotive components, such as power window regulators, play a major role in affecting the perceived overall quality of a vehicle system. Annoying noise with a high degree of modulation tends to create the impression of an inferior product with inherent design flaws and manufacturing problems. Current subjective quality rating methods based on simple jury evaluation schemes and idealized metrics cannot be used to quantify modulation effects accurately. This is because modulated tones are temporal phenomena that are closely related to the rotational velocities of motors that are not typically accounted for in existing time-averaged sound quality metrics. A new time-varying based index is developed that incorporates operational velocity, noise spectrum, and binaural effects to quantify sound quality from acoustic signals measured using a binaural head system and rotational velocity data of the window regulator mechanism. Numerical simulations based on the proposed algorithm are subsequently used to predict the noise quality of various systems. [See NOISE-CON Proceedings for full paper.]