A novel approach to optimizing and stabilizing interior noise quality in vehicles

Abstract Interior noise quality, as defined by the relative amounts of noise components and time-based metrics, is known to depend critically on structural noise paths. Manufactured vehicles are found in reality to have very variable structural noise paths and hence interior noise quality. This paper describes a new experimental and theoretical methodology to improve quality consistently by taking full account of manufacturing realities at an early stage. A case study is described involving a light commercial vehicle to illustrate the approach. The approach requires the availability of noise path measurement of a body shell similar to the vehicle under development.