Evaluating Different Vehicle Audio Environments Through a Novel Software-based System

An original software-based system, featuring two dierent tools, is here proposed for vehicle audio quality assessment. The first one performs the acquisition of relevant data for system modelling and for cancelling the undesired eects of the acquisition chain. The second oers a user-friendly interface for real time simulation of dierent car audio systems and for both objective and subjective evaluation, where the listening procedure is directly experienced at PC workplace. The validity of this approach has been examined through a subjective listening test set (more than 50 participants and three cars involved), developed by means of a dedicated software environment and based on appropriate ITU recommendations. Experimental results have shown that the quality rating delivered by conventional in-car procedure is confirmed when the software-based approach is used.