The emotional component in perceived quality of noises produced by car engines

Abstract

This study dealt with evaluation and paired comparison of noises of seven diesel cars running at idle. Participants evaluated noises' difference, indicated which one was the most appreciable, and verbally compared them when explaining the reasons of their choice. A systems method of analysis of free verbalisations allowed to quantitatively analyse the set of characteristics which are the most significant for the choice of the more pleasant sound. The results showed that emotional component was significantly present in the set of verbal characteristics of the noises' perceived quality and the 'weight' of this component in the set of evaluative characteristics was different for males and females as well as for participants with different experience of driving the investigated cars. The proposed verbal protocol analysis can be used by the supplier to evaluate influence of car noises and to identify the part of emotive attributes in their perceived quality. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Nosulenko, V., Parizet, E. and Samoylenko, E. (2013) 'The emotional component in perceived quality of noises produced by car engines', Int. J. Vehicle Noise and Vibration, Vol. 9, Nos. 1/2, pp.96-108. Biographical notes: Valery Nosulenko graduated from the Institute of Electronics, Moscow and in 1980 obtained a PhD in Psychology at the USSR Academy of Sciences, on the topic of sounds' evaluation in communicative situations. He is a Senior Researcher in the Institute of Psychology, Russian