Psychoacoustic Analysis of Vacuum Cleaner Noise

Abstract

Vacuum cleaners are one of the most widely used household appliances associated with unpleasant noises. Previous studies have indicated the severity of loud vacuum cleaner noise and its impact on the users nearby. The standalone quantified measurements of the generated noise are not sufficient for properly characterizing vacuum cleaners. Human perception should also be included for a better assessment of the quality of sound. A hybrid approach such as psychoacoustics analysis, which comprises subjective and objective evaluations of sounds, has recently been widely used. This paper focuses on the experimental assessment of vacuum cleaner noise and evaluates their psychoacoustical matrices. Three vacuum cleaners with different specifications have been selected as test candidates, and their sound qualities have been analyzed. Statistical analysis, ANOVA, has been performed in order to investigate the effectiveness of individual psychoacoustic metrics.

Keywords

• vacuum cleaner noise
• sound pressure level
• psychoacoustic analysis
• analysis of variance (ANOVA)