Abstract
In recent years, sophisticated audio systems have been installed on touring motorcycles. One feature of these systems is the provision for headphones on or inside the rider's helmet. With such an installation, the rider must still be able to perceive safety-related sounds such as the siren of an emergency vehicle. This paper describes field and laboratory experiments used to study the rider's ability to detect and localize such warning sirens, in the presence of audio program material presented in various ways. The spectral qualities of sirens and ambient motorcycle noise are considered, as well as the sound attenuation properties of helmets. The results lead to a specification for an audio filter which attenuates the program amplitude in the spectral region of a siren. This permits the rider to hear a siren with adequate warning, yet the desired high level of sound quality can be maintained.
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