DETECTION AND EVALUATION OF ANNOYING SOURCES AFFECTING NOISE QUALITY IN CAR PASSENGER COMPARTMENT

In car marketability, noise quality inside the passenger compartment is assuming increasing importance. This paper describes a general methodology which detects and quantifies the disturbing noise sources inside a car when no significant difference can be detected by means of traditional acoustic measurements. An example of the application of this methodology to "rumble" noise is also given, to illustrate how the complexity of the problem can be dealt with. The methodology comprises both usual monaural measurements and binaural analyses, better suited to match with the human hearing mode, and the application of statistical modeling methods to correlate subjective aspects to objective physical "features" of sound events, selected by means of a "Principal Components Analysis". (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD 869246.