Study to predict noise annoyance level in passenger car cabin interior

Abstract

Car cabin interior acoustic is one of the factors which may influence the flexibility of the driving. The noise produced by the car system can cause hearing impairment, hypertension, annoyance, and sometimes can decrease the driving focus resulting an accident. There are studies that had been carried out to measure the annoyance level of cabin interior acoustical by defining particular index. Since the engine noise is one of the dominant sources of interior noise, one approach has been done to study correlation between engine speed and car velocity with interior noise. This study uses Vehicle Acoustical Comfort Index (VACI) to measure the level of noise annoyance. The results of the study produce a formula to show the correlation between the engine speed and velocity with Vehicle Acoustical Comfort Index. Based on produced metrics, next acoustical researchers may refer to available formula to predict the noise annoyance level in order to minimize the cabin interior noise or in other words to find the optimal interior noise.