Evaluation of a Heavy Equipment Cab Interior Sound Field and Implications on Modeling

摘要

Modern heavy equipment cabs are designed with large windows for optimal visibility. As aconsequence, the interior sound field can be quite reverberant and diffuse. This property can beexploited for predictive purposes using Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA), which assumes adiffuse sound field. This paper describes a series of experiments conducted to verify the diffusefield assumption in a heavy equipment cab. The acoustic characteristics of the cab interior wereexplored using exterior and interior sound sources. The results confirm that the cab interior fieldis quasi-diffuse. Correlation to a SEA model is also presented. The results suggest that for somesituations, predictions might be improved by adding a direct sound field term, especially forinterior sound sources, such as air conditioning duct openings.