Method to investigate recognition of computer fan sound in a

A decisive factor in determining perceived product sound quality is how strongly a product’s sound is recognized as truly belonging to or emanating from the specific product [1]. For computers, fans are important contributors to the perceived product sound quality, but their sound usually also causes annoyance. A listening experiment was designed in order to investigate what signal properties are important for the sound to be recognized as a computer fan in a domestic environment. Participants were asked to identify all sound sources they could hear while looking at a photo of the interior of a domestic environment. The stimuli consisted of computer fan sounds having various acoustical properties as well as recorded background noise in the apartment, and the sounds of a number of common domestic sound sources such as vacuum cleaner, radio shows, vehicles passing outside, etc. The visual input was used as a mediator, limiting the number of possible sound sources, and the method was found to be efficient for identifying properties responsible for the sound being recognized as a computer fan sound.