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Full -screen people find it harder to locate warning sounds from electric cars than sounds from regular engines, according to a Chalmers study. Photo: Mike Stewart/AP/TT
Warning signals from electric cars that approach at low speed are clearly more difficult to locate than the sounds of an internal combustion engine, a study from Chalmers shows.
Researchers at Chalmers have investigated how difficult it is for people to identify from where warning sounds from electric and hybrid cars that travel at low speed come from, compared to sound from an internal combustion engine.
Three different variants of warning signals were used in the tests, which aimed to simulate an environment like it in a parking garage. All proved to be more difficult to identify than sound from an exhaust engine.
“As an acoustics, we obviously think it is good that electric cars are significantly quieter than ordinary internal combustion engines, but it is important to find a balance,” says doctoral student Leon Müller, one of the researchers behind the study, in a comment.
Especially one of the signals, which consists of two different tones, was difficult to locate. None of the more than 50 people who conducted the test managed to point out the cars just right.
Wolfgang’s body, professor of acoustics and co -authors, says that the warning sounds of electric cars are often tested without background noise, which does not reflect real conditions.
“From a road safety point of view, it would be desirable to find a signal that is as effective as possible in terms of discovery and location but that does not adversely affect people, which our previous research has shown is the case about traffic noise,” says Body.
The study has been published in The Journal of the Acoustic Society of America.