An Interactive App for Rating the Perception of Auralized Propulsion Systems: First Results Towards Validation

Kurzfassung

We developed a mobile app enabling the psychoacoustic analysis of noise from new generations of aircraft. The method aims to identify links between engine design parameters and the perception of their noise. On the engineering side, the noise emissions of distributed electrified propulsion systems depend on the design, configuration, number and position of several individual propulsors. Thus, acoustic effects such as interference, modulation and shadowing might significantly impact noise characteristics. On the listener’s side, the specifics of the human auditory system introduce more complexities to the perception of this noise. As a result, reactions of acceptance or annoyance to a sound are not only associated with mere physical metrics (such as the maximum sound pressure level) but also with psychoacoustic metrics (such as fluctuation strength and sharpness). Previous work outlined the development of a mobile app that allows a large and diverse number of subjects to, set the propulsion system parameters; listen to the corresponding auralized sound; and rate it using a standardized questionnaire. Here, we present preliminary results from workshops in an educational context: quantitative ratings of different configurations, reliability of the calibration method, the influence of app design on data structure and participant feedback.