Electric Truck Sound Design: A User-Centered Psychoacoustic Approach to Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems

Kullukcu B, Rosenkranz R, Altinsoy E. Electric Truck Sound Design: A User-Centered Psychoacoustic Approach to Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems. J Audio Eng Soc. 2025;73(4):207-219. doi:10.17743/jaes.2022.0196

@article{Kullukcu2025_22813,
  author = {Kullukcu, Berkay and Rosenkranz, Robert and Altinsoy, Ercan},
  title = {{Electric Truck Sound Design: A User-Centered Psychoacoustic Approach to Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems}},
  journal = {Journal of the Audio Engineering Society},
  volume = {73},
  number = {4},
  pages = {207--219},
  year = {2025},
  month = apr,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  doi = {10.17743/jaes.2022.0196},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2022.0196}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Electric Truck Sound Design: A User-Centered Psychoacoustic Approach to Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems
AU  - Kullukcu, Berkay
AU  - Rosenkranz, Robert
AU  - Altinsoy, Ercan
T2  - Journal of the Audio Engineering Society
J2  - J. Audio Eng. Soc.
VL  - 73
IS  - 4
SP  - 207
EP  - 219
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/04/07
DO  - 10.17743/jaes.2022.0196
UR  - https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2022.0196
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Electric vehicles (EVs), especially trucks, are becoming more common and present a distinct acoustic challenge compared with typical internal combustion engine vehicles. Their silent functioning poses a safety concern to pedestrians. This study seeks to provide a user-centered and psychoacoustically informed design methodology for acoustic vehicle alerting systems (AVAS), especially for electric trucks. Building on the preliminary findings of a semantic differential analysis that compared the perceived sound characteristics of internal combustion engine vehicles and EVs with and without AVAS, the study describes a design methodology. The procedure used in the study incorporates qualitative methods, such as open-ended surveys and jury tests, and quantitative methods incorporating psychoacoustical components. The emphasis is on balancing the intended “electric” and “truck-like” sound characteristics. The work describes a unique design method for user-centered and psychoacoustically informed AVAS for EVs that contributes to the expanding work to develop effective and user-friendly solutions for improving electric truck AVAS perception in urban contexts.
ER  -