This paper describes a simulation experiment to study the subjective listening evaluation of synthesized automotive sounds. Three types of digitized automotive sounds are used in the experiment: stationary, nonstationary, and impulsive. These are modeled and synthesized using a newly developed multipulse excitation technique, the characteristics of which can be controlled through careful selection of four key parameters. A blind subjective assessment scheme is devised and nine evaluators are asked to judge the qualities of the sounds syn thesized under varying parametric settings. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) performed on the experimental data reveals a number of useful relationships among the (perceived) qual ity, compression efficiency, and parametric set tings. The paper includes a detailed description of the simulation experiment and the results.
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