A Study on Repeatability Uncertainty of Sound Pressure Measurements in Cars

Zhou Z, Chen R, Tao J, Qiu X. A Study on Repeatability Uncertainty of Sound Pressure Measurements in Cars. In: Express Paper. Audio Engineering Society; 2026. Paper 417. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23253

@inproceedings{Zhou2026_23253,
  author = {Zhou, Zhou and Chen, Ruoyan and Tao, Jiancheng and Qiu, Xiaojun},
  title = {{A Study on Repeatability Uncertainty of Sound Pressure Measurements in Cars}},
  note = {Paper 417},
  year = {2026},
  month = may,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23253}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - A Study on Repeatability Uncertainty of Sound Pressure Measurements in Cars
AU  - Zhou, Zhou
AU  - Chen, Ruoyan
AU  - Tao, Jiancheng
AU  - Qiu, Xiaojun
M1  - Paper 417
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/28
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23253
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Accurate and efficient measurement of sound pressure levels around driver and passengers ears in a car is essential for objective evaluation of its audio systems basic sound quality and audio features such as independent sound zones and active noise control. This study compares the repeatability uncertainties of 5 commonly used measurement methods, which are the Audio Engineering Society (AES) six-microphone method, the single-microphone method, the two-microphone method, the head-and-torso simulator (HATS) method, and the human binaural method. Measurements were conducted at the front-right seat of a four-door electric sedan under two playback scenarios of using either body-mounted loudspeakers or headrest-mounted loudspeakers with different frequency resolutions. Repeatability uncertainty was evaluated using 3 complete install-measure-remove cycles for each method. The one-third-octave results show that all 5 methods exhibit relatively low uncertainty below 200 Hz and above 15 kHz, while the uncertainty increases between 200 Hz and 15 kHz. Among the 5 methods considered, the AES six-microphone method provides the lowest uncertainty and thus the highest repeatability at most frequency resolutions. For engineering comparison and reporting, measurements using the AES six-microphone method together with one-third-octave band analysis are recommended as a primary approach.
ER  -