Product Sound Quality

“The music that machines make”...

In many applications, “Sound Quality” is more important than “sound quantity”. Most standardized testing of products fails to fully address these perceptual aspects.

Some low-energy sound characteristics can be far more annoying than many louder sounds. These are usually sounds that the brain interprets as “communication” but which in actuality convey no useful information: e.g., tones and well-defined amplitude- and frequency modulations.

Sound quality is the study of how people react to these sounds. It’s a lot like how they react to music: some people like some sounds more than others would, especially depending on the application, but there are many sounds that almost no one likes. Thus sound quality is a “soft” science and relies heavily on subjective evaluations by listeners.

Once a sound quality target is determined however, a “hard” criterion can be developed. The project then reverts to a more conventional noise control project, albeit with a more sophisticated criterion.

Troubleshooting

existing products - by identifying the source and path of annoying tones

Perceptual studies and sound quality response modeling -

quantify the impact of each sound quality characteristic.

Adding Sound Quality to a Compliance Testing Program -

it’s easier than you might think