The influence of combined environmental stimuli on the evaluation of acoustical comfort: case studies carried out in an interactive simulation environment

In automobiles, the perceived acoustical comfort is dependent on the vibro-acoustic exposure. To meet the customers' demands, acoustic engineers are asked for the optimisation of the vehicle's noise and vibration at early stages of the development. However, the task can only be adequately carried out if the interaction of noise and vibration and its impact on drivers' evaluations are well-known. In the following the phenomenon of combined vehicle noise and vibration stimuli and their influence on perception and evaluation are examined by means of case studies. Furthermore, the influence of test environments on the subjective evaluations is analysed.