Scientific Article

Sound quality of side-by-side vehicles: Investigation of multidimensional sensory profiles and loudness equalization in an industrial context

¹ Groupe d’Acoustique de l’Université de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. de l’Université, Sherbrooke, J1K 2R1 Québec, Canada
² Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music, Media, and Technology, McGill University, 527 Sherbrooke St. West, Montréal, H3A 1E3 Québec, Canada
³ École des Arts Visuels et Médiatiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, 405, rue Sainte-Catherine Est, Montréal, H2L 2C4 Québec, Canada

^* Corresponding author: Abdelghani.Benghanem@USherbrooke.ca

Received: 3 January 2020
Accepted: 15 December 2020

Abstract

The sensory perception of products influences the relationship of potential users or buyers with these products. Sound quality is part of this sensory experience and is critical for products such as sports or utility vehicles as the sound conveys the impression of power or efficiency, among others. Therefore, there is a need to provide tools based on scientific methodology to acoustical engineers designing such vehicles. The motivation of this work was the need to explore new and faster methods for quicker and simpler sound quality evaluation. In this paper, the sound quality of side-by-side utility vehicles is investigated using the rapid sensory profile measurement method, and then by creating virtual participants using bootstrapping methods. Additionally, this study also investigates the effect of loudness equalization of the sound samples used during the listening tests. Results from these studies were used to establish the sensory profiles, desire-to-buy values and desirable sound profiles regarding the tested vehicles. Equalized loudness tests provide a finer sensory profile than those obtained using non-equalized sound samples. Furthermore, statistical analysis results confirm that adding virtual participants to the original data using a bootstrapping approach helps highlighting key information without altering the validity of the results.