A Rapid Sensory Analysis Method for Perceptual Assessment of Automotive Audio

Today's car audio systems encompass some of the latest sound technologies available capable of delivering unique and novel aural experiences. It remains unclear whether current perceptual assessment protocols follow this trend, and their ability to fully capture the human sensations evoked by such systems is questioned. This paper reviews the applicability of existing assessment protocols in today's systems and draws upon the identified limitations. It further reports the design and implementation of a new method to perceptually investigate the properties of automotive audio. The method uses Spatial Decomposition Method for acquiring, analyzing, and reproducing the sound field in a laboratory over loudspeakers, allowing instant comparisons of automotive audio systems. A Rapid Sensory Analysis protocol, the Flash Profile, is employed for evaluating the perceptual experience using individually elicited attributes in a time-efficient manner. A pilot experiment is presented where experts, experienced, and naive assessors followed the proposed procedure and evaluated three sound fields. The current findings suggest that the method allows the assessment of both spatial and timbral properties of automotive audio. This may form a scientific framework for characterizing the acoustical qualities within the automotive environment and stipulate research paths to better understand these sound fields.