Sound quality evaluation tendency according to driving situation

In near future, autonomous vehicles are expected to be more popular due to the technology development. Through this transition from active driving situation to passive driving, the drivers' psychological state may change. This may cause change of impression to vehicle interior sound. If the sound evaluation tendency is changed, we should improve autonomous vehicle interior sound by considering the difference. In this study, we investigated whether drivers' impression to interior sound change or not according to the driving situation through subjective evaluation test using a driving simulator. In the test, an original driving simulator was prepared to reproduce identical sounds at both active and passive driving situation. EV and ICEV interior sounds were presented in the simulator for the sound quality evaluation about discomfort and sporty. Participants drove the simulator under various driving conditions including acceleration and deceleration and evaluated the sound quality. As the result, interior sounds were found to be evaluated as more discomfort at passive driving situation than that at active situation. Furthermore, this tendency was observed regardless the driving experience of participants. Accordingly, more interior sound reduction will be necessary for satisfying the customer in the autonomous vehicle development.