A study on sound quality of vehicle engine sportiness using factor analysis

For those who enjoy driving, the “sportiness” the engine sound is an important point to consider. However, owing to its abstractness, there is no absolute definition of what sportiness sounds like. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a sound quality index capable of objectively evaluating the sportiness of engine sound based on sound quality research. Objective measurements included the process of recording the sound in the car interior under wide-open-throttle acceleration conditions for 4 vehicles, producing 13 evaluation samples by using various filters based on the recorded data, and calculating the sound metrics of each sample. Subjective evaluation was jointly carried out by 23 evaluators and a semantic differential method was used to find adjectives that could explain the concept and preference for sportiness. The developed index was validated by examining the correlation coefficient through a new sample group. Furthermore, the necessity of factor analysis was also determined.