Applied Acoustics 70 (2009) 636645

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Applied Acoustics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apacoust

A sound quality-based investigation of the HVAC system noise

of an automobile model
Ricardo Penna Leite *, Stephan Paul, Samir N.Y. Gerges
Federal University of Santa Catarina, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Laboratory of Vibrations and Acoustics, Post Box 476, Florianpolis, Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Using methods and techniques of sound quality engineering, the noise of the heating, ventilation and air-
Received 8 January 2007 conditioning system (HVAC) of an automobile model was studied. Such noise has a great inuence on
Received in revised form 17 June 2008 vehicle acoustical comfort and on overall quality perception of a vehicle. The study was divided into
Accepted 18 June 2008
two steps. The rst step aimed to identify the most signicant attributes that contribute to the perception
Available online 6 August 2008
of similarity or dissimilarity of this kind of noise, using the paired comparison technique and correlation
of the results with psychoacoustic models. Loudness, spectral composition and tonality, represented by
PACS:
the psychoacoustic models of loudness, sharpness, tone-to-noise ratio and prominence were found to
43.50.Qp
43.66.Lj
be the most important dimensions for the perception of similarity and dissimilarity of HVAC-noise.
In the second step of the study a model to predict subjective response to HVAC sounds using the
Keywords: semantic differential technique was developed. In particular the perception of annoyance was studied
HVAC system and it is shown that the annoyance caused by the HVAC noise can be satisfactorily described by Zwickers
Sound quality stationary loudness model, provided that the HVAC noises do not present tonal components. The loud-
Similarity ness model also predicts scores on a quiet/loud scale. Both results conrm the power of the loudness
Paired comparison dimension and its model introduced by Zwicker for the overall quality of stationary broadband sounds
Semantic differential
without slow uctuations or tonal components. From the annoyance model developed in this study a
maximum acceptable loudness level for HVAC-systems can be determined.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction high ventilation speeds, especially when no air-conditioning unit,

In recent years the contribution pattern of noise sources to the
overall interior noise in a vehicle has changed. A large number of
secondary sound sources, previously masked, have become percep-
tible to passengers with the reduction principally of engine noise
levels and must be considered by the acoustical engineer. These
noises, nowadays, play an important role in the passenger comfort
and have a considerable inuence on the quality perception not
only of the source but of the whole automobile. Some of these
sources are active only occasionally, like the electric seat adjust-
ment or electric power windows. Others, like the HVAC system,
are likely to be operating as long as the automobile is in use. This
system can operate with alterations to the air temperature and
velocity if it is in manual mode, or can change these parameters
over a larger time window if it is in automatic mode, where these
parameters and the state of the compressor (turned on or off) are
adjusted according to the thermal situation inside the vehicle. All
these working conditions introduce a large variability in the HVAC
noise. In hot climate conditions, as found in Brazil, it operates at
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 48 3331 9227.
E-mail addresses: ricardopennaleite@gmail.com (R.P. Leite), st.paul@emc.ufsc.br
(S. Paul), samir@emc.ufsc.br (S.N.Y. Gerges).
which is very usual in Brazil, is installed in the vehicle. Under these
conditions, the contribution of the HVAC noise to the acoustical
comfort of the passenger is very signicant.
In addition to the inuence that HVAC noise has on the comfort
and quality perception it can modify the thermal comfort inside the
car due to the interaction of thermal and acoustical perception [2].
Although it is considered that the lower the level of the HVAC
noise, the greater the interior comfort of the car will be, research
activities conrming, denying or detailing this premise are not eas-
ily found in the literature. It is not known perfectly how HVAC sys-
tem noise should behave, regarding consumer expectation;
interaction between the noise and thermal perception; the numer-
ous working conditions of the HVAC system; interaction between
the engine and HVAC systems; masking of the HVAC noise by the
engine noise and vice-versa. Thus, a complete study should aim
to understand and model consumer perception, so that a HVAC
system can be appropriately designed.
This study aims to investigate the perception of the HVAC noise
of an automobile model using methods and techniques of sound
quality engineering [1]. Specic objectives are (1) to identify the
most important psychoacoustic models to characterize HVAC noise
and (2) to propose models to predict subjective response to HVAC
noise, particularly the perception of annoyance.

0003-682X/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apacoust.2008.06.010
 R.P. Leite et al. / Applied Acoustics 70 (2009) 636645
This part of the study was limited to the investigation of the
ventilation system alone, that is, the air-conditioning and engine
were switched off during recordings. This was done for two rea-
sons, (1) most cars of this model are still sold without air-condi-
tioning, and (2) for reasons of simplication, otherwise a very
large number of combinations need to be considered, i.e., different
thermal conditions (air-conditioner loads), different (idle) engine
sounds, sounds from the whole car at different velocities on differ-
ent surfaces, etc. Therefore, the sounds being studied here are gen-
erated only by the electric motor and the air ow. Further
investigations should be carried out considering more complex
working conditions of the HVAC system.
The car model chosen to make the recordings was a newly
introduced compact car model, developed in Brazil and destined
for the Brazilian and European markets. The model was chosen
for several reasons, the three most important being: (1) the high
production volume, resulting in a large number of cars available
for recording at the end of the production line without interfering
too much in the activities of the line, (2) the fact that this model is
also being exported to Europe, a market with high quality de-
mands, and (3) the fact that the percentage of cars of this model
sold without air-conditioning unit is signicant.
The study was divided into two steps. In the rst (see Section 2),
the HVAC noise of fteen cars of the same model in sixteen
different arrangements of fan speed and direction of air ow was
recorded. Consequently, a large quantity of sound les was
obtained (15 cars  16 arrangements = 240 sound les). To reduce
the number of sounds to be characterized and analyzed, a subjec-
tive evaluation of similarity, using the paired comparison tech-
nique, was carried out. By means of statistical analysis (scatter
plots and multiple linear regressions) of objective and subjective
data, and additional analysis of qualitative data, the most signi-
cant characteristics of this kind of noise were identied.
In the second step (see Section 3), new recordings were taken
in twelve cars. Based on the underlying dimensions of similarity
ratings of HVAC sounds a set of sounds was chosen to be char-
acterized and evaluated using the semantic differential tech-
nique. Using multiple linear regressions relations between
subjective results and psychoacoustic models were determined
and models to predict subjective response to HVAC sounds are
proposed. It is shown that the annoyance caused by the HVAC
noise can be satisfactorily described by Zwickers stationary
loudness model.
The HVAC system of the car model under investigation has four
fan speeds and four air outlets, here called Front, Windshield, Foot
and Foot/Windshield. Furthermore, three different kinds are
available:
 Air-conditioning: with air-conditioning and heating
 Simple/Heating: without air-conditioning, but with heating
 Simple: without air-conditioning and heating
In this paper, the sounds will be referred to as, for example, car
002, Front-4. This means the recording of the HVAC noise of the car
002, working at fan speed 4 and air outlet Front.
2. Subjective evaluation of similarity
This section shows how the most important psychoacoustic
models to characterize the perception of the vehicle HVAC noise
were determined.
2.1. Recording and editing
Binaural recordings of ventilation noise (air-conditioning and
engine were always switched off) were made in fteen cars of
637
the same model, taken from the production line. A headphone/
microphone headset (NoiseBook from HEAD acoustics), placed
on a persons head at the drivers position, was used with inde-
pendent of direction equalization [3,4].
Windows and doors were always closed; the driver seat posi-
tion was the same in all recordings; all valves of the air outlets
were opened, and the direction of air ow was set to the center di-
rectly towards the oor Fig. 1 to prevent noise induced by air ow
at the microphones. All combinations of fan speed and direction of
air ow were recorded. As the HVAC system has four fan speeds
and four directions of air ow, sixteen conditions were recorded
for each car. For later analysis all recordings were edited, resulting
in sound les of 5 seconds duration. Only this length was consid-
ered, after consulting the literature (see [5]). If the sound is too
long, the subject will be bored, if it is too short, the subject will
not perceived the sound characteristics.
2.2. Subjective evaluation
The aim of the subjective evaluation of similarity was to reduce
the number of sounds presented to subjects and evaluated by them
in further procedures and to determine the perceptual dimensions
that are important for similarity ratings of HVAC sounds. Using the
paired comparison technique and a ratio-scale (Stone or line-scale)
with the anchors Very similar and Not very similar (the Portu-
guese expressions were Muito parecidos and Pouco parecidos), as
shown in Fig. 2, similarity of sounds were scaled by subjects, mark-
ing on the line-scale the point that best represented their impres-
sion of similarity.
Prior to the subjective evaluation procedure the sounds were
grouped into 5 clusters (Table 1). Clusters 14 were sets of sounds
at the same fan speed and direction of air ow, cluster 5 was a set
of sounds of the same car, at different fan speeds and directions of
air ow. Clustering aimed to reduce the number of possible combi-
nations for the paired comparison technique and, accordingly, to
reduce the time required for the subjective evaluation without lim-
iting the variability unacceptably. Clusters were chosen in such a
way they would embrace a high and a low fan speed, two HVAC
models (Simple/Heating was not included because only two cars
of this model were recorded), all directions of air ow, and there
would be similar and different sounds within each cluster, as there
is a high variability in the noise of cars of the same model even at
the end of the production line [6]. Furthermore, the sounds with
higher tonality had to be included. The number of sounds in each
cluster depended on the number of cars of a model which were
available to be recorded.
Fig. 1. All valves of the air outlets were opened, and the direction of air ow was set
downwards.
638 R.P. Leite et al. / Applied Acoustics 70 (2009) 636645
Fig. 2. The ratio-scale used in the rst subjective evaluation.
Table 1
The ve clusters of the evaluation
Cluster Model Working conditions
1 Simple Foot-4
2 Air-conditioning Foot/Windshield-4
3 Air-conditioning Front-2
4 Simple Windshield-2
5 Simple Various conditions of the same car
One sound in each cluster was chosen to be the reference and all
of the others were compared only with the reference, that is, the
pairs were made up of the reference, which was played rst, and
one of the other sounds of the cluster. Moreover, the references
of clusters 1 and 2 formed a pair and this was also the case for
the references of clusters 3 and 4.
To check the coherence of the subjects responses, two sound
pairs were repeated. To verify if the presentation order is impor-
tant, the pairs formed by references of clusters 1 and 2 and the ref-
erences of clusters 3 and 4 were presented in the two possible
orders. In total, the evaluation had thirty-four pairs. To familiarize
subjects with the test, a step called Training was included, which
used three additional sound pairs.
2.2.1. Subject proles and conversion of responses to numbers
Twenty seven voluntary subjects took part in the evaluation.
The mean age was 29.7 years (standard deviation: 9.7 years) and
82% were male. Seventy-four percent of the subjects said they
owned a car or often drove their family car, 74% said they worked
with acoustics, and this means they were Masters or doctoral stu-
dents in acoustics or undergraduted students that work on the pro-
jects of the laboratory. On the one hand, this is a limitation, as the
jury does not represent reliably all customers of this category of
car, although all subjects are potential customers of this car. On
the other hand, it was expected that these subjects would be more
critical or at least have more ability to express their compliants
usually subjects face diculties in rating sound even when perceiv-
ing the sound characteristics, and this might be due to the limita-
tions of Brazilian Portuguese regarding the availability of words
and expressions to describe sound impressions, when compared
with languages like German.
Subjects were seated in the drivers position of a real car, which
was parked inside the garage of the laboratory. Sounds were pre-
sented to them via electrodynamic headphones.
Subjective responses on the line-scale were converted to corre-
sponding numerical values between zero and ten, as the line had
10 cm. The value zero means that the subject marked the Not very
similar anchor and the value ten the Very similar anchor. Mean
values were calculated for each sound.
2.3. Response distributions and analysis of repeated pairs
To apply parametric statistical methods, assumptions about the
population scores and the sample randomness are required. These
assumptions are suitable for experimental sciences, but in many
cases not for behavioral ones. In this study, the response distribu-
tions showed that the population normality hypothesis can not be
applied. As an example, Fig. 3 shows the subjective responses his-
togram for pair 9. Of the subjects, 44% marked between zero and 2,
while 22% of subjects marked between 8 and 10. However, the
score distribution of some pairs looks like the normal distribution
or half of it. Thus, nonparametric statistical methods t best the
data of this study.
Analysis of the mean scores of the repeated pairs showed that
subject responses were coherent. The equal pairs 3 and 34 had
mean values of 7.2 and 6.7 and standard deviations of 2.2 and
Number of 2.4, respectively. In the same way, the equal pairs 7 and 28 had
sounds mean values of 7.2 and 7.5 and standard deviations of 2.4 and
5 2.7, respectively. Application of the nonparametric Friedmans test
8 revealed that there were no signicant differences between the
8 means of the repeated pairs. Nevertheless, individual responses
5
7
of many subjects diverged considerably between one pair and its
repetition.
2.4. Psychoacoustic properties responsible for perception of similarity
of HVAC noise
In this section, correlations between the psychoacoustic models
and the perception of similarity between sounds of the HVAC sys-
tem are investigated.
2.4.1. Analysis of subjects comments
The questionnaire had a space for comments. Subjects usually
wrote about loudness (in Portuguese, volume), level (nvel); or
they wrote that one sound was duller (abafado, grave) or sharper
(agudo) than the other; or they wrote about tonal components
(componentes tonais). Hence, it was concluded that loudness,
sharpness and tone-to-noise ratio are important psychoacoustic
models to characterize the similarity/dissimilarity of HVAC noise.
2.4.2. Computation of the multiple linear regression variables
The well documented psychoacoustic models loudness, sharp-
ness, tone-to-noise ratio, prominence, roughness and uctuation
strength (see [7]) were applied to all sounds using dBSONIC soft-
ware and diffuse eld parametrisation. Although subjects did not
make comments about the roughness or uctuation of the sounds,
Brazilian Portuguese speaking subjects have difculty verbalizing
subjective impressions on sounds (see also [810]), these models
were included as they are very commonly employed in sound qual-
ity investigations.
As the aim of the subjective evaluation is to investigate the sim-
ilarity perception, the difference modulus for the values of the
12
10
Number of subjects
8
6
4
2
0
0 2 4 6 8
Individual subject responses
Fig. 3. Histogram of Individual subject responses for pair 9.
 R.P. Leite et al. / Applied Acoustics 70 (2009) 636645 639

psychoacoustic models for the sounds of each pair were calculated. 10

For example, if the loudness values of the paired sounds were 23

Subjective response (similarity)

and 26 soneGD, Dloudness j23  26j 3 soneGD. In this way,
the variables Dloudness, Dsharpness, Dfs (for uctuation strength), 8
Droughness, Dtnr (for tone-to-noise ratio), Dprominence and Dmpf
(the most prominent frequency) were created for each pair.
To investigate whether spectral composition inuences the sim- 6
ilarity perception, besides working with Dsharpness, the loudness
spectrum of each sound was divided into six bands, according to
4
Fig. 4. The mean loudness of each band was calculated. The differ-
ence modulus of the loudness bands for the sounds of each pair
was calculated, and the variables Dloud I , DloudII , DloudIII , DloudIV , 2
DloudV and Dloud VI were created.

2.4.3. A scatter plot investigation 0

Scatter plots are a way to investigate the correlation between 0 5 10 15 20 25
Loudness difference modulus (soneGD)
objective and subjective data. In Fig. 5, the loudness difference
modulus for the sounds of each pair is plotted on the abscissa Fig. 5. Relation between loudness difference modulus for the sounds of each pair
and subjective responses are plotted on the ordinate. According and subjective response.
to this gure, large differences in loudness for the sounds of a pair
caused a low score in the subjective evaluation, that is, subjects
perceived the sounds as being not very similar. However, there
are three pairs that received scores between 1 and 2 without hav- 10
ing a loudness difference greater than 5 soneGD. In the same way,

Subjective response (similarity)

there are pairs with a loudness difference of around 5 soneGD that
received greater scores, which means that loudness difference is 8
not the only important factor for perception of similarity.
This analysis was also carried out for roughness and promi-
nence. An interesting result is shown in Fig. 6: the more dissimilar 6
the perception of the sounds, the greater the sharpness difference
between the sounds of a pair.
4
Scatter plots show no correlation between subjective responses
and uctuation strength or tone-to-noise ratio.
2
2.4.4. Correlation of data with multiple linear regression (MLR)
The aim of multiple linear regression is to achieve equations
that link objective data (independent variables, values for psy- 0
choacoustic models) with subjective data (dependent variables, 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Sharpness difference modulus (acum)
scores on similarity scale). The computation of the objective data
is explained in Section 2.4.2 and in Section 2.2 for the subjective Fig. 6. Relation between sharpness difference modulus for the sounds of each pair
data. Stepwise regression was applied and different equation mod- and subjective response.
els were tested. The rst model is shown in Eq. (1), where y is the
prediction of the subjective response. Note that, for identical
gree even if this pair had identical sounds.1 The scale with an
sounds, the equation will not yield ten, as would be expected as
unnumbered line reduces this problem (see [5]), but does not com-
this was the value attributed to the maximum degree of similarity.
pletely avoid it (see [11]). Unfortunately, this research did not use
In fact, the jury would not evaluate a pair with the maximum de-
pairs with identical sounds and thus it is not possible to verify a sub-
jects reaction to them. Eq. (1) is a model for the subjective re-
sponses: if the jury did not rate any pair with ten, the model will
represent it.
y 8:5  0:17  Dloudness  12:0  Dsharpness  0:58  Dtnr
 0:73  Dprominence  0:0003  Dmpf
1
2
The model gives R 0:84 using Dloudness, D sharpness, Dtnr,
Dprominence and Dmpf as independent variables.
In a second model (Eq. (2)), which gives R2 0:85, Dloudness
and Dsharpness are replaced by DloudVI . This is possible because
Dloudness and DloudVI are highly correlated with one another
R2 0:87 and Dsharpness and DloudVI are correlated R2 0:69
as well. This exchange cannot be carried out with variables

Fig. 4. The division of loudness spectrum into six bands.
1
This is in agreement with the expected mean of the subjective data collected with
a limited scale. Some subjects may rate even identical sounds with positions that
correspond to values lower than the maximum degree. As they can not overstate the
maximum, the mean subjective rating is likely to be less than ten.
640 R.P. Leite et al. / Applied Acoustics 70 (2009) 636645

DloudI , DloudII , and DloudIII as they are not correlated with Dsharp- 10
ness (they are related to low and medium frequencies of the
spectrum).
8
y 8:3  9:4  DloudVI  0:45  Dtnr  0:97  Dprominence

Model response
 0:0002  Dmpf 6
2
Fig. 7 shows the subjective responses on the abscissa and the pre- 4
diction of these responses, according to Eq. (1), on the ordinate.
The straight line indicates the cases where model responses are
2
equal to subjective responses. Fig. 8 shows the same data, but
according to Eq. (2).
As the sounds of clusters 1 and 2 were for fan speed 4, their 0
loudness values were similar. Therefore, MLR was applied to the
pairs of clusters 1 and 2. A high correlation R2 0:91 is achieved 2
with only one variable (Dsharpness) as given in Eq. (3). Fig. 9 shows 0 2 4 6 8 10
the subjective responses on the abscissa and the prediction of Subjective response (similarity)
these responses, according to Eq. (3), on the ordinate.
Fig. 7. Comparison of subjective responses for similarity of all clusters and the
y 8:4  24  Dsharpness 3 prediction of these responses by Eq. (1). The straight line indicates the cases where
model responses are equal to subjective responses.
MLR was applied also to the pairs of clusters 3 and 4, as the sounds
of these clusters were all for fan speed 2 and their loudness values
were similar. However, contrary to the MLR results of clusters 1 and
2, Dsharpness is not correlated with subjective responses of clusters
3 and 4 R2 0:2. Instead, the model uses DloudIII and DloudV as 10
shown in Eq. (4). Fig. 10 shows the subjective responses on the ab-
scissa and the prediction of these responses, according to Eq. (4), on
8
the ordinate.

y 7:8  9:8  DloudIII  17  DloudV

Model response

4 6
MLR was also applied to the pairs of cluster 5. This cluster has four
sounds for fan speed 4 (including the reference) and one sound for 4
each fan speed 1, 2 and 3. Thus, the loudness values of these sounds,
estimated with Zwickers model, were very different. A high corre- 2
lation R2 0:95 was achieved only with Dloudness, as shown in
Eq. (5). Fig. 11 shows the subjective responses on the abscissa and
the prediction of these responses on the ordinate.
0

y 7:3  0:33  Dloudness 5

2
0 2 4 6 8 10
Subjective response (similarity)
2.4.5. Prediction of new observations
MLR can give equations that t the data almost perfectly, but Fig. 8. Comparison of subjective responses for similarity of all clusters and the
this does not mean that these equations will be appropriate to pre- prediction of these responses by Eq. (2).
dict new observations. In order to test whether Eqs. (1)(5) are able
to predict the results of new subjective evaluations of similarity,
the prediction interval [12] was determined. The pairs of sounds
that were used for Training were considered to be new observa-
tions, as this data did not form part of the MLR analysis. 8
For all pairs of the Training session, independent variables
7
(Dloudness, Dsharpness and so on) were calculated according to
the procedure of Section 2.4.2. The predictions of the subjective re- 6
sponses are given by Eqs. (1)(5) and they are presented together
Model response

with the minimum and the maximum values of the 95% prediction 5
interval in Table 2 for each Training pair. The table also shows the
subjective response obtained in the Training session. 4
From Table 2, it is clear that the predictions given by (1) and (2)
3
are closer to subjective responses than others and all subjective re-
sponses are within the prediction intervals. 2
Note that Eq. (4) can not be applied to pair Training 1 as it is de-
rived from the sounds of fan speed 2 and this pair had the sounds 1
of fan speed 4. Similar considerations were taken into account for
the pairs Training 2 and Training 3. 0
0 2 4 6 8 10

2.4.6. Partial conclusions

Subjective response (similarity)
The most important psychoacoustic properties to model the Fig. 9. Comparison of subjective responses for similarity of clusters 1 and 2 and the
perception of similarity of HVAC noise were found to be loudness, prediction of these responses by Eq. (3).
 R.P. Leite et al. / Applied Acoustics 70 (2009) 636645 641

8 When the loudness difference between two HVAC sounds is suf-

ciently small, factors other than loudness become important for
7 similarity perception. MLR applied to the pairs of clusters 1 and
2 (all with sounds of fan speed 4 and similar loudness) yielded
6 Eq. (3), Dsharpness being the single independent variable. MLR ap-
Model response

plied to the pairs of clusters 3 and 4 (fan speed 2, similar loudness)

5 yielded Eq. (4), DloudIII and DloudV being the independent vari-
ables. These results suggest that, for small loudness differences,
4 the spectral composition is the most important factor. The impor-
tance of each frequency band changes according to the loudness le-
3 vel of the sounds being compared. When comparing sounds with
higher loudness, sharpness is a suitable psychoacoustic model for
2 estimation of similarity. But, for comparison of sounds with lower
loudness, a combination of two loudness bands is more suitable.
1 Most sounds under study did not have pure tone components,
0 2 4 6 8 10 thus it is believed that the inclusion of Dprominence and Dmpf in
Subjective response (similarity) some equations contributed to characterize timbre indicating
peaks in the spectrum and the frequency of a maximum peak.
Fig. 10. Comparison of subjective responses for similarity of clusters 3 and 4 and
Although the variable Dtnr does not have a linear relation with
the prediction of these responses by Eq. (4).
subjective responses, it is an appropriate parameter to characterize
the perception of similarity and is included in Eqs. (1) and (2). This
is in agreement with the fact that subjects wrote about tonal com-
ponents in their comments.
8 Fluctuation strength has no correlation with similarity percep-
tion. Roughness has a high correlation with loudness (between
Droughness and Dloudness, R2 0:85), so it is not necessary for it
6
to be included in models of perception of similarity.
Model response

4 3. A semantic differential approach

In the second step, it is shown that the annoyance caused by the

2 HVAC noise can be satisfactorily described by Zwickers stationary
loudness model.

0 3.1. Recording and editing

In order to collect samples from a different stage of the produc-

2
0 2 4 6
Subjective response (similarity)
Fig. 11. Comparison of subjective responses for similarity of cluster 5 and the
prediction of these responses by Eq. (5).
sharpness, tone-to-noise ratio and prominence. When the loudness
difference between two HVAC sounds is sufciently large, loudness
was found to be the only important factor for perception of similar-
ity, as shown by Eq. (5), which comes from a cluster that had a
great loudness difference between its sounds. Furthermore, some
subjects comments suggested that, in the case of a large difference
in loudness, the rating of similarity will tend towards not very
similar though subjects perceived the spectra of the sounds as
similar.
8 tion line and with a recording system that better models binaural
transfer functions at higher frequencies (this system was not avail-
able at the beginning of the project), new recordings were taken in
twelve cars of the same model, using a manikin (Mk 24-1 of 01 dB)
with diffuse eld equalization [3,13]. It was placed on the drivers
seat and a person was seated in the passengers seat to control the
HVAC system, as shown in Fig. 12. To avoid background noise gen-
erated by the hard-drive of the notebook, used as the data storage
device, the notebook was placed outside the car.
Precautions taken to record the noises in the rst step, regard-
ing adjustment of windows, doors, seat position and HVAC system,
were repeated. All combinations of fan speed and direction of air
ow were recorded. Only the ventilation system was recorded, that
is, the air-conditioning and engine were always switched off. For
later analysis all recordings were edited. Post-editing sound les

Table 2
Prediction of the subjective responses of the pairs Training 1 to Training 3 and the minimum and maximum values of the 95% prediction interval

Equation Pair Training 1 Pair Training 2 Pair Training 3

Min Pred. Max Min Pred. Max Min Pred. Max
(1) 4.9 7.0 9.1 2.4 5.0 7.5 1.8 0.9 3.7
(2) 5.7 7.7 9.7 2.5 4.9 7.3 2.2 0.0 2.1
(3) 5.0 5.9 6.9
(4) 4.8 5.8 6.9
(5) 6.5 7.1 7.7 6.5 7.1 7.7 2.0 2.6 3.2
Subjective response 7.3 4.5 0.4
642 R.P. Leite et al. / Applied Acoustics 70 (2009) 636645

have a duration of 5 s, a fade in of 60 ms and fade out of 80 ms. Table 3

These values were chosen subjectively by the researchers. Bipolar adjective pairs and their respective category

Category Adjective pair Approximate translation

3.2. Development of the semantic differential
The aim of the subjective evaluation was to determine the psy-
choacoustic models that can be used to describe the annoyance
caused by the HVAC noise. To investigate the subjective impression
of HVAC noise, the semantic differential technique [14] was cho-
sen. Unfortunately, for Brazilian Portuguese no studies on auditory
descriptors or semantic differentials for sound evaluation are avail-
able [8], but this problem would have affected other commonly
used methods like paired comparison or magnitude estimation to
a similar degree. Thus, a simplied semantic differential design
was developed in various steps. The rst includes an open ques-
tionnaire applied to thirteen people regarding characteristics of
the noise of an automobile ventilation and air conditioning system
and their importance. The questionnaire was applied without and
with presentation of a selected set of four HVAC noises (two with a
higher loudness, but from different HVAC models, one a little qui-
eter and one with a low loudness).
Adjectives and nouns used to describe subjective impressions of
the presented sounds were collected in listening tests with naive
subjects and experts on acoustics and divided into four categories:
quality, loudness, roughness and spectral composition. For each
category, an adjective pair, as given in Table 3, was created.
Approximate translations are given in the second column. The pair
no-assobiante/assobiante (not-whistling/whistling) was added
after the analysis of some German auditory descriptors used within
semantic differential designs of car interior sounds and aimed to
identify tonality. To make reading easier, Portuguese adjective
pairs will be avoided in the text, approximate translations will be
given instead. The rating scale used between the bipolar adjectives
had 7 degrees, as advised by Osgood, Suci and Tannenbaum [14].
Fig. 13 shows the semantic differential used in this study. Gradua-
tion by adverbs was not used as no concept specic studies on
semantic differentials for sound evaluation with Brazilian Portu-
guese have been carried out to date. In this case, it is recommended
not to use graduation [15].
3.2.1. Criteria for sound selection
In order to chose sounds to be used in the listening test from the
large number of sounds recorded (all HVAC system models,
fan speeds and air ow settings were recorded in all possible com-
binations), criteria were established according to the results of the
previous similarity rating procedure. For all sounds, the psychoa-
coustic models loudness, sharpness, roughness, tone-to-noise ratio
and prominence were calculated, using diffuse eld parametriza-
Quality No-incmodo/ incmodo Not-annoying/annoying
Loudness Silencioso/barulhento Quiet/loud
Spectral composition Grave/agudo Dull/sharp
Roughness Suave/spero Smooth/rough
Tonality No-assobiante/assobiante Not-whistling/whistling
Fig. 13. English translation of the semantic differential used.
tion [13]. Fluctuation strength was not calculated, because this
model does not characterize well the kind of noise under study,
as indicated by the rst step of this study (Section 2).
Similarity of sounds was predicted using Eq. (1) and a total of 12
sounds that were predicted to be of low similarity were chosen.
Table 4 details the sounds used in the evaluation. To check
coherence of the subjects responses, two sounds were chosen
to be repeated (Air-conditioning, Foot/Windshield-3 and Simple,
Foot -4). In total, the evaluation had fourteen sounds. To familiarize
subjects with the test, a step called Training was included once
again, using two more sounds.
3.2.2. Subject proles and conversion of responses to numbers
Thirty-one voluntary subjects took part in the evaluation. The
mean age was 25.1 years, and standard deviation was 7.3 years.
Ninety-seven percent were male and 61% said that they worked
with acoustics. Eighty-seven percent said they owned a car or often
drove their family car. Subjects were seated in the drivers position
of a real car, which was parked inside the garage of the laboratory.
Sounds were presented to them via electrodynamic headphones.
Subjects were not trained previously.
Subjective responses were converted to numbers between 3
and 3, as shown in Fig. 14, and their means were calculated for
each sound.
3.3. Response distributions and analysis of repeated sounds
Once again, the response distributions showed that the
population normality hypothesis can not be applied. Hence, the
non-parametric Friedmans test was used to analyze the scores of

Table 4
The sounds used in the second subjective evaluation

Sound number Direction of air ow Fan speed HVAC model

1 Foot/Windshield
2 Windshield
3 Foot/Windshield
4 Foot/Windshield
5 Front
6 Windshield
7 Foot/Windshield
8 Windshield
9 Foot/Windshield
10 Foot
11 Front
12 Windshield
Fig. 12. Manikin position.
1 Air-conditioning
2 Air-conditioning
2 Simple/Heating
2 Simple
2 Air-conditioning
3 Simple
3 Air-conditioning
3 Simple/Heating
4 Simple/Heating
4 Simple
4 Air-conditioning
4 Simple/Heating
 R.P. Leite et al. / Applied Acoustics 70 (2009) 636645 643

the sounds that were repeated to check subjects coherence. It was 5

Difference between notannoying/annoying

concluded that there were no signicant differences between the
means of the sounds that were presented twice. Again, individual
responses usually diverged between one sound and its repetition. 4

3.4. Comparison of results of the rst and the second subjective

evaluation 3

To analyze the coherence between the results of the rst and

second subjective evaluation, a scatter plot was created. The simi- 2
larity index for the sounds of the second evaluation, according to
Eq. 1, is plotted on the abscissa and the difference between re-
1
sponses on the not-annoying/annoying scale is plotted on the ordi-
nate. For example, the similarity index for sounds 1 and 2 (Table 4)
is 3.7. On the not-annoying/annoying scale, mean rating was 2.0 0
for sound 1 and 0.8 for sound 2. Thus, the difference of the means 10 5 0 5 10
is j2.0  (0.8)j = 1.2. These two values (3.7 and 1.2) were plot-
Similarity index
ted. The same procedure was carried out for all possible combina- Fig. 15. Comparison of results of the rst and the second subjective evaluation.
tions of pairs of the sounds of this evaluation, resulting in the
scatter plot shown in Fig. 15. The plot indicates that the more sim-
ilar the subjects perception of the sounds (higher values of the In the case of dull/sharp scale, the correlation with sharpness is
similarity index), the lower the difference between the responses weak R2 0:62. There might be two reasons for this: (1) To eval-
for these sounds on the not-annoying/annoying scale R2 0:73. uate this dimension subject training might be required, and (2) the
Portuguese descriptors might be ambiguous. For example, agudo
3.5. Correlations between subjective data (sharp) can also be understood as a musical note with a high pitch,
like an opera singer (in the words of one subject), and not as a
To investigate the relationship between the bipolar adjective broad-band noise where sharpness relates to the noise spectral
pairs of the semantic differential, their correlation was calculated. envelope characteristics.
It was found that the scales not-annoying/annoying, quiet/loud Because of its strong correlation with loudness and sharpness,
and smooth/rough are highly correlated with one another, as roughness can be excluded from models created to predict subjec-
shown in Table 5.
For the noises under study, the psychoacoustic proprieties loud-
ness and roughness were highly correlated R2 0:91. This may Table 5
explain the high correlation between the scores of the quiet/loud Matrix of R2 coefcients between subjective responses for the semantic differential
and smooth/rough scale. Probably due to this, subjects also re- pairs
ported having some difculties using scales without training. This Quiet/ Dull/ Smooth/ Not-whistling/
might have contributed to the similar scores on these scales. The loud sharp rough whistling
difculties reported by the subjects show the need for more basic Not-annoying/ 0.99 0.55 0.97 0.31
research on methods and techniques for sound quality assessment annoying
with Brazilian Portuguese speaking subjects. Quiet/loud 0.47 0.96 0.25
Dull/sharp 0.60 0.51
Smooth/rough 0.33
3.6. Correlations between psychoacoustic models

Table 6 is a matrix of R2 coefcients for correlations between Table 6

psychoacoustic models of the sounds under study. Sharpness, Matrix of R2 coefcients for correlations between psychoacoustic models of the
roughness and loudness are highly correlated. sounds under study

Sharpness Tone-to-noise ratio Prominence Roughness

3.7. Correlations between objective and subjective data
Loudness 0.85 0.09 0.28 0.91
2
Sharpness 0.09 0.27 0.88
Table 7 shows a matrix of R coefcients for correlations be- Tone-to-noise ratio 0.09 0.08
tween psychoacoustic models and data from subjective tests. It is Prominence 0.40
possible to see that not-annoying/annoying, quiet/loud and
smooth/rough scales are highly correlated with loudness, sharp-
ness and roughness. More than one model correlates with each
scale because of the high correlation between the psychoacoustic
Table 7
models (see Table 6). Matrix of R2 coefcients for correlations between psychoacoustic models and
The correlation presented in Table 7 becomes clearer in 16, a subjective results
scatter plot with loudness on the x-axis and the not-annoying/
Loudness Sharpness Tone-to- Prominence Roughness
annoying scale on the y-axis. noise ratio
Not-annoying/ 0.95 0.90 0.05 0.30 0.93
annoying
Quiet/loud 0.95 0.89 0.05 0.25 0.92
Dull/sharp 0.48 0.62 0.02 0.46 0.51
Smooth/rough 0.89 0.94 0.06 0.28 0.90
Not-whistling/ 0.16 0.26 0.04 0.21 0.25
whistling
Fig. 14. Seven step scale anchored at the bipolar adjectives.
644 R.P. Leite et al. / Applied Acoustics 70 (2009) 636645

3 3

2
2
notannoying / annoying

Model response
1
1
0
0
1

1
2

2 3
0 5 10 15 20 25 3 2 1 0 1 2 3
loudness (soneGD) Subjective response (notannoying / annoying)
Fig. 16. Scatter plot with loudness on the x-axis and the not-annoying/annoying Fig. 18. Comparison of subjective responses for the not-annoying/annoying scale
scale on the y-axis. and the prediction of these responses by Eq. (6). The straight line indicates the cases
where model responses are equal to subjective responses.

tive responses, and the scores on the smooth/rough scale can be

the quiet/loud scale is almost identical to Eq. (6), and for this reason
satisfactorily modelled using any of the remaining psychoacoustic
it is not shown here.
models.
Eq. (7) refers to the smooth/rough scale, which can be modeled
Fig. 17 presents a scatter plot with the tone-to-noise ratio on
using only roughness, with R2 0:90. The variable rou is the pre-
the x-axis and the not-whistling/whistling pair on the y-axis,
diction of the subjective response regarding the smooth/rough
showing no correlation between them. Subjects might have evalu-
scale.
ated this adjective pair reasonably if they had been trained. This
hypothesis is supported by an outlier at the top right of the scatter rou 5:0 0:23  roughness 7
plot: this sound has an audible tone and a higher value of the tone- Eq. (8) refers to the dull/sharp scale, which can be modeled using
to-noise ratio, and it was evaluated as the most whistling sound. only sharpness, with R2 0:62. The variable sha is the prediction
of the subjective response regarding the dull/sharp scale.
3.8. Multiple linear regression
sha 3:8 3:1  roughness 8
To obtain equations that relate subjective responses to psychoa- Note that the equations presented here are valid only for the kind of
coustic models, the multiple linear regression method was applied sounds under study: HVAC ventilation noise with low tonality.
to all adjective pairs, by means of stepwise regression. Eq. (6) refers
to the not-annoying/annoying scale, which can be modeled using
4. Conclusions
only loudness, with R2 0:95. The variable ann is the annoyance
provoked by HVAC noise. Fig. 18 shows the comparison between
In this study, methods and techniques of sound quality engi-
subjective responses for the not-annoying/annoying scale and the
neering were used to investigate the perception of the HVAC noise
prediction of these responses by Eq. (6).
of an automobile model. The main contributions of this work are
ann 2:5 0:24  loudness 6 (1) the identication of the most signicant attributes to character-
ize the perception of the HVAC noise, these being loudness, sharp-
As the not-annoying/annoying and quiet/loud scales are highly cor-
ness and the presence of tones (see Section 2.4.6); and (2) the
related with one another, an equation to predict the responses of
proposal of models to predict subjective response to HVAC noise,
the perception of annoyance, measured on a seven-point not-
1 annoying/annoying scale, being the most important. The derived
prediction model uses only Zwickers loudness and is shown by
Eq. (6). The loudness model can also be used to predict scores on
0.5 the quiet/loud scale. This result conrms the power of the loudness
notwhistling / whistling

dimension and its model introduced by Zwicker for the overall

0 quality of stationary broadband sounds without slow uctuations
or tonal components (the HVAC noise under study had low
0.5 tonality).
From Fig. 16 a maximum acceptable loudness level can be
determined. This information can be readily used in the automo-
1
tive industry and help engineers at car manufacturers and compo-
nent suppliers to select or improve HVAC parts to be installed in
1.5 the vehicle. It also conrms that the rst action to improve the
HVAC noise is to reduce its loudness level. However, these results
2 are limited to the ventilation system alone and apply only to a car
4 2 0 2 4 at rest with the engine switched off.
tonetonoise ratio (dB)
Future research should include more complex working condi-
Fig. 17. Scatter plot with tone-to-noise ratio on the x-axis and the not-whistling/ tions of the HVAC system and interaction with other sound
whistling pair on the y-axis. sources, such as engine noise. It should also include investigations
 R.P. Leite et al. / Applied Acoustics 70 (2009) 636645
on other automobile models and HVAC noise characteristics, such
as sharpness and tonality. For these investigations the loudness
of all sounds of a subjective evaluation should be equalized, other-
wise the great importance of loudness in this kind of noise might
mask other psychoacoustic characteristics. Also, further studies
are necessary to introduce the required modications indicated
by this sound quality research. Another facet that should be inves-
tigated is the inuence of the duration of the sound sample stimuli.
Even when recommended by the literature, or when there is a
necessity to limit the duration of the assessment procedure, a short
duration of the sounds presented may inuence the subject rat-
ings, since no adaptation of their auditory system can occur. An
investigation of this effect is therefore highly desirable and would
be of importance for the sound quality community. Major research
should be carried out also in the eld of semantics for assessment
of sound quality with Brazilian Portuguese speaking subjects. Even
when terms like dull/sharp or not-whistling/whistling, that are
commonly used with English or German speaking subjects, it is
strongly recommended to revise the use of such terms in experi-
ments with Brazilian speaking subjects, especially naive ones.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Volkswagen do Brasil LTDA, for helping
this research to be carried out, the undergraduate students William
DAndrea Fonseca, Fernanda Higashi de Vasconcelos and Gustavo
Tabuti, for their help in carrying out recordings and subjective
evaluations, and to all voluntary subjects. Further acknowledg-
ments are given to Coordenao de Aperfeioamento de Pessoal
de Nvel Superior (CAPES), to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvi-
mento Cientco e Tecnolgico (CNPq) and to Financiadora de Estu-
dos e Projetos (FINEP), for nancing the laboratory equipment and
installations and also postgraduate scholarships.
645
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