A Case Study: The Urban Residents’ Choice for Electric Vehicles Warning Sounds

Mia Suhanek; Ivan Djurek; Antonio Petosic

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11

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A Case Study: The Urban Residents’ Choice for Electric Vehicles Warning Sounds

Mia Suhanek, Ivan Djurek, Antonio Petosic

Published in American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering (Volume 3, Issue 3)

Received: 18 September 2019 Accepted: 15 October 2019 Published: 23 October 2019

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Abstract

Nowadays, people are exposed to noise on a daily basis. Therefore, in an overvibrant urban environments electrical vehicles operating at low speed are too quiet to be detected by pedestrians (especially vulnerable group are visually impaired people) and urban residents in general. Thus, electric vehicle warning sounds are sounds created to alert and warn pedestrians to the presence of electrical vehicles (e.g. hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and all-electric vehicles) moving at low speeds. The goal of this paper is to determine through a case study what the pedestrians would desire and prefer the electrical vehicle warning audio signals to sound like. The case study involved 201 participants who had the task to fulfil a specially designed questionnaire for this purpose. Regarding the questionnaire, the participants were not prepared in any way for the testing they were just advised to keep in mind that the warning sound they select for the “role” of a pedestrian should not be irritable at the same time for the “role” of a driver. The results obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed and discussed in the paper. When speaking about the concept of smart cities and the legislation around the whole world today this is certainly a hot topic where the opinion of pedestrians and future drivers should not be overlooked.

Published in	American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering (Volume 3, Issue 3) This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Cities – Innovative Approaches
DOI	10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11
Page(s)	47-51
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Electric Vehicle, Warning Sounds, Audio Signal, Pedestrian Safety, Smart Cities

References

[1]	H. Ising, B. Kruppa; "Health effects caused by noise: Evidence in the literature from the past 25 years", Journal Noise and Health, 2004, 6 (22), p. 5-13.
[2]	M. Basner, W. Babisch, A. Davis et al; "Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health", Lancet PMC, 2014; 383 (9925); p. 1325-1332.
[3]	European Commission. Noise impacts on health. Science for Environment Policy; 2015.
[4]	L. Maffei, M. Masullo, Electric "Vehicles and Urban Noise Control Policies", Archives of Acoustics, 2014, p. 333-341.
[5]	www.pixabay.com
[6]	E. Parizet, P. Pondrom, K. Janssens, "Additional Efficient warning sounds for electric and hybrid vehicles", Applied Acoustics 86, 2014, p. 50-58.
[7]	TMC to Sell Approaching Vehicle Audible System for 'Prius'". Toyota Motor Company News Release. 2010-08-24. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
[8]	J. Motavalli (2010-06-17), "Blind Advocates 'Disappointed' in Nissan E. V. Sounds for Pedestrians". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-06-19. The article includes a sample of the two sounds.
[9]	"Electric cars and noise: The sound of silence". The Economist. 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
[10]	Mike King (2010-06-02). "Hybrid cars not noisy enough, group says". The Gazette (Montreal). Retrieved 2010-07-0.
[11]	Working Party on Noise (GRB) Quiet Road Transport Vehicle Working Group (2011-03-11). "Annex VIII - Proposal for guidelines on measures ensuring the audibility of hybrid and electric vehicles" (PDF). United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
[12]	European Parliament (2013-02-06). "European Parliament legislative resolution of 6 February 2013 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the sound level of motor vehicles (COM(2011)0856-C7-0487/2011-2011/0409(COD))". European Parliament. Retrieved 2013-03-17. See Amendments 16, 20, 58 and 59.
[13]	Ray Massey (2014-04-02). "Silent but deadly: EU rules all electric cars must make artificial engine noise". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
[14]	European Commission Press Release (2014-04-02), "Commission welcomes Parliament vote on decreasing vehicle noise", European Commission. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
[15]	E. Parizet,, R. Robart, J. C. Chamard, J. Schlittenlacher, P. Pondrom, W. Ellermeier et al. (2013), "Detectability and annoyance of warning sounds for electric vehicles" Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, 19, 2013.

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APA Style

Mia Suhanek, Ivan Djurek, Antonio Petosic. (2019). A Case Study: The Urban Residents’ Choice for Electric Vehicles Warning Sounds. American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 3(3), 47-51. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11

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ACS Style

Mia Suhanek; Ivan Djurek; Antonio Petosic. A Case Study: The Urban Residents’ Choice for Electric Vehicles Warning Sounds. Am. J. Environ. Sci. Eng. 2019, 3(3), 47-51. doi: 10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11

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AMA Style

Mia Suhanek, Ivan Djurek, Antonio Petosic. A Case Study: The Urban Residents’ Choice for Electric Vehicles Warning Sounds. Am J Environ Sci Eng. 2019;3(3):47-51. doi: 10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11,
  author = {Mia Suhanek and Ivan Djurek and Antonio Petosic},
  title = {A Case Study: The Urban Residents’ Choice for Electric Vehicles Warning Sounds},
  journal = {American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering},
  volume = {3},
  number = {3},
  pages = {47-51},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajese.20190303.11},
  abstract = {Nowadays, people are exposed to noise on a daily basis. Therefore, in an overvibrant urban environments electrical vehicles operating at low speed are too quiet to be detected by pedestrians (especially vulnerable group are visually impaired people) and urban residents in general. Thus, electric vehicle warning sounds are sounds created to alert and warn pedestrians to the presence of electrical vehicles (e.g. hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and all-electric vehicles) moving at low speeds. The goal of this paper is to determine through a case study what the pedestrians would desire and prefer the electrical vehicle warning audio signals to sound like. The case study involved 201 participants who had the task to fulfil a specially designed questionnaire for this purpose. Regarding the questionnaire, the participants were not prepared in any way for the testing they were just advised to keep in mind that the warning sound they select for the “role” of a pedestrian should not be irritable at the same time for the “role” of a driver. The results obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed and discussed in the paper. When speaking about the concept of smart cities and the legislation around the whole world today this is certainly a hot topic where the opinion of pedestrians and future drivers should not be overlooked.},
 year = {2019}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Case Study: The Urban Residents’ Choice for Electric Vehicles Warning Sounds
AU  - Mia Suhanek
AU  - Ivan Djurek
AU  - Antonio Petosic
Y1  - 2019/10/23
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11
T2  - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
JF  - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
JO  - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
SP  - 47
EP  - 51
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2578-7993
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11
AB  - Nowadays, people are exposed to noise on a daily basis. Therefore, in an overvibrant urban environments electrical vehicles operating at low speed are too quiet to be detected by pedestrians (especially vulnerable group are visually impaired people) and urban residents in general. Thus, electric vehicle warning sounds are sounds created to alert and warn pedestrians to the presence of electrical vehicles (e.g. hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and all-electric vehicles) moving at low speeds. The goal of this paper is to determine through a case study what the pedestrians would desire and prefer the electrical vehicle warning audio signals to sound like. The case study involved 201 participants who had the task to fulfil a specially designed questionnaire for this purpose. Regarding the questionnaire, the participants were not prepared in any way for the testing they were just advised to keep in mind that the warning sound they select for the “role” of a pedestrian should not be irritable at the same time for the “role” of a driver. The results obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed and discussed in the paper. When speaking about the concept of smart cities and the legislation around the whole world today this is certainly a hot topic where the opinion of pedestrians and future drivers should not be overlooked.
VL  - 3
IS  - 3
ER  -

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Author Information

Mia Suhanek

Department of Electroacoustics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Ivan Djurek

Department of Electroacoustics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Antonio Petosic

Department of Electroacoustics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Mia Suhanek, Ivan Djurek, Antonio Petosic. (2019). A Case Study: The Urban Residents’ Choice for Electric Vehicles Warning Sounds. American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 3(3), 47-51. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11

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ACS Style

Mia Suhanek; Ivan Djurek; Antonio Petosic. A Case Study: The Urban Residents’ Choice for Electric Vehicles Warning Sounds. Am. J. Environ. Sci. Eng. 2019, 3(3), 47-51. doi: 10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Mia Suhanek, Ivan Djurek, Antonio Petosic. A Case Study: The Urban Residents’ Choice for Electric Vehicles Warning Sounds. Am J Environ Sci Eng. 2019;3(3):47-51. doi: 10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11,
  author = {Mia Suhanek and Ivan Djurek and Antonio Petosic},
  title = {A Case Study: The Urban Residents’ Choice for Electric Vehicles Warning Sounds},
  journal = {American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering},
  volume = {3},
  number = {3},
  pages = {47-51},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajese.20190303.11},
  abstract = {Nowadays, people are exposed to noise on a daily basis. Therefore, in an overvibrant urban environments electrical vehicles operating at low speed are too quiet to be detected by pedestrians (especially vulnerable group are visually impaired people) and urban residents in general. Thus, electric vehicle warning sounds are sounds created to alert and warn pedestrians to the presence of electrical vehicles (e.g. hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and all-electric vehicles) moving at low speeds. The goal of this paper is to determine through a case study what the pedestrians would desire and prefer the electrical vehicle warning audio signals to sound like. The case study involved 201 participants who had the task to fulfil a specially designed questionnaire for this purpose. Regarding the questionnaire, the participants were not prepared in any way for the testing they were just advised to keep in mind that the warning sound they select for the “role” of a pedestrian should not be irritable at the same time for the “role” of a driver. The results obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed and discussed in the paper. When speaking about the concept of smart cities and the legislation around the whole world today this is certainly a hot topic where the opinion of pedestrians and future drivers should not be overlooked.},
 year = {2019}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Case Study: The Urban Residents’ Choice for Electric Vehicles Warning Sounds
AU  - Mia Suhanek
AU  - Ivan Djurek
AU  - Antonio Petosic
Y1  - 2019/10/23
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11
T2  - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
JF  - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
JO  - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
SP  - 47
EP  - 51
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2578-7993
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20190303.11
AB  - Nowadays, people are exposed to noise on a daily basis. Therefore, in an overvibrant urban environments electrical vehicles operating at low speed are too quiet to be detected by pedestrians (especially vulnerable group are visually impaired people) and urban residents in general. Thus, electric vehicle warning sounds are sounds created to alert and warn pedestrians to the presence of electrical vehicles (e.g. hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and all-electric vehicles) moving at low speeds. The goal of this paper is to determine through a case study what the pedestrians would desire and prefer the electrical vehicle warning audio signals to sound like. The case study involved 201 participants who had the task to fulfil a specially designed questionnaire for this purpose. Regarding the questionnaire, the participants were not prepared in any way for the testing they were just advised to keep in mind that the warning sound they select for the “role” of a pedestrian should not be irritable at the same time for the “role” of a driver. The results obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed and discussed in the paper. When speaking about the concept of smart cities and the legislation around the whole world today this is certainly a hot topic where the opinion of pedestrians and future drivers should not be overlooked.
VL  - 3
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download