Impressions of Acceleration Sound of Sports-type Motorcycle

Abstract

In the present study, two perceptual experiments were conducted with semantic differential method to clarify the affective properties of motorcycle riders and non-riders for acceleration sounds of sports-type motorcycles. In Experiment 1, the impressions of the sounds recorded under rapid and slow acceleration conditions were rated by university students. In Experiment 2, the impressions of the acceleration sounds were rated by motorcycle riders and non-riders. The results showed that the impression space for the engine sounds were illustrated by the principal components of roughness and activity. The rapid acceleration sounds were perceived more active than slow acceleration sounds and the riders were more sensitive for the activity than the non-riders. The roughness was almost consistent for the same motorcycles. Two psychophysical models of roughness and dissonance were tested to estimate the perceptual roughness of riders. The results showed that the dissonance matched to the impressions, rather than the psychophysical roughness.