Abstract
This study investigates the effects of seat-design elements such as seating arrangement, shape, and height on speech privacy in high-speed trains. For the evaluation of speech privacy, acoustic simulation software was used to reproduce room acoustical conditions in passenger cars on the basis of in-situ measurement data. The influences of speech source directivity and source height on privacy distance (<TEX>$r_P$</TEX>) were investigated, and it was found that <TEX>$r_P$</TEX> determined using an omni-directional source was relatively shorter than that determined using a directional source. It was also found that <TEX>$r_P$</TEX> decreased when the source height was lower than the height of the seat-back because the seat-back blocked the propagation of speech from the sound source. The effect of seating arrangement was not significant when comparing the vis-a-vis seating and one-side seating arrangements. In addition, among the alternative seat-designs, the seats that block the space between the seats and cover the space near the ear were found to show significantly enhanced speech privacy in high-speed train passenger cars.
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