The Effect of Whole-body Vibrations on Preferred Bass Equalization of Automotive Audio Systems

摘要

A set of experiments studied the effect of whole-body vibration on preferred low frequency equalization of an automotive audio system. Listeners' bass equalization preferences were measured for four different music programs reproduced through a high quality automotive audio system auditioned in situ (in the car) and through a headphone-based binaural room scanning (BRS) system. The task was repeated while the listener experienced different levels of simulated and real whole-body vibrations associated with the automotive audio system itself. The results reveal that the presence of whole-body vibration can reduce the preferred level of bass, equalization by as much as 3 dB depending on the program, the level of vibration, and the individual listener. Evaluations of a virtualized automotive audio system were judged to sound closer to the actual system when the simulated vibrations were included.