Experimental investigations of psychoacoustic characteristics of household vacuum cleaners

TL;DR

This study experimentally evaluates the psychoacoustic characteristics of household vacuum cleaners, combining subjective and objective sound assessments to better understand their noise impact and inform design improvements.

Contribution

It introduces an experimental approach to assess psychoacoustic matrices and annoyance indices for vacuum cleaners, integrating human perception into noise evaluation.

Findings

Different vacuum cleaners vary significantly in psychoacoustic profiles

Annoyance indices correlate with specific psychoacoustic parameters

The hybrid assessment approach improves understanding of perceived noise quality

Abstract

Vacuum cleaners are one of the most widely used household appliances associated with unpleasant noises. Previous studies have indicated the severity of vacuum cleaner noise and its impact on the users nearby. The quantified measurements of the generated noise standalone are not sufficient for the selection or designing of vacuum cleaners. The human perception must also be included for a better assessment of the quality of sound. A hybrid approach known as psychoacoustics, which comprises subjective and objective evaluations of sounds, is widely used in recent times. This paper focuses on the experimental assessment of psychoacoustical matrices for household vacuum cleaners. Three vacuum cleaners with different specifications have been selected as test candidates, and their sound qualities have been analyzed. Besides, the annoyance index has been assessed for these vacuum cleaners.