Subjective Evaluation of EV Sounds: A Human-Centered Approach

In the future, an increase of electric vehicles (EVs) is expected. There is still uncertainty, however, how to design the sound of this new vehicle types in order to meet customers' expectations and requirements. A study was conducted to get more insight in this important future field. Overall, 48 participants evaluated different acceleration and recuperation sounds on the test track and in real traffic. The results of the study show that the first impression of the best assessed EV sounds within this study were that they give an appropriate and realistic feedback and that they are perceived as pleasant, unobtrusive and gentle. Furthermore, the assessments of the different sounds show that EV sounds with perceived high-quality are characterized by the fact that they are rather quiet, soft and reserved, rich and a bit dark, fit well to the driving conditions and give the driver an important feedback about the driving behavior.