Relevance of stimuli and test environment in the perceptual evaluation of car audio systems

Abstract

The increasing commercial relevance of automotive audio systems has led to an increased interest in the reliable evaluation of the sound quality of these systems. For this contribution, the sound quality of a wide range of different car audio systems was evaluated by means of acoustic measurements and listening tests based on binaural recordings of music. As human perception is influenced by a multitude of sensory impressions, the question arose whether these listening tests could be conducted in a laboratory or whether a more realistic environment is needed to obtain valid results. Accordingly, in a between-subjects-design, the same set of stimuli was evaluated in two test environments: a listening laboratory and a driving simulator. Aspects to be considered when selecting music material for perceptual evaluations in studies are presented. The relationship of acoustic measurements, the musical stimuli and the results of the perception experiments is discussed. No relevant differences between the results of the two test environments were observed. However, the results showed listener preferences concerning the music excerpts used as well as distinct interaction effects between the factors song and audio system.