Speech Intelligibility Test in Virtual Reality for Interior Noise Evaluation

摘要

An interior noise demonstrator is developed with the purpose of demonstrating and measuring the effects of noise reduction measures on passengers in the train. Improving the interior noise environment in the train is related to making the train a more attractive means for travel. A noise demonstrator, with visual stimuli presented in Virtual Reality, can support simulating mitigation measures, and executing experiments to proof the effectiveness of proposed measures. The demonstrator is capable of playing back synthesized noise predictions. A listening experiment in the form of a Speech Intelligibility Test (SIT) is described to evaluate the comfort of the train for different sound environments. Subjects were offered a virtual train ride in the demonstrator in which the SIT was built in as an instrument to measure the impact of the noise. In addition to the SIT also post run questionnaires were used, to measure the impact of noise on the subjects. Findings were that the SIT ratings indicated clearly that the different noises resulted in different SIT scores. The conclusion, based upon the given study, is that an interior noise demonstrator can simulate the noise experience of an actual train, and provides a platform for controlled research to measure, and eventually, improve passenger comfort.