Synergetic Effect of Vehicle Interior Sound and Design on Comfortability in Cabin

Abstract

Vehicle interior noise have been quiet by the development of noise and vibration reduction technique. This noise will become quieter by the engine rest in electric vehicle. Hence, vehicle occupants may expect much more comfort in cabin as if they are in living room. In addition, not only the auditory stimulus but also visual stimulus is considered to have important role for the comfortability in cabin. In this study, we then focused on the comfortability in cabin and investigated influence of vehicle interior sound and design on comfortability using VR system. In the test, various virtual interior design and interior sound recorded binaurally at cruising condition were presented in the VR system and the sound, design and total comfortability was assessed through subjective evaluation test. As the result, both sound and design comfort were observed to be essential to increase the total comfortability and synergetic effect between them was found. This indicates that the influence of sound comfort to total comfortability changes according to the design comfort. Furthermore, soft-smooth interior sound and dark-solid interior design were clarified to improve the total comfort.