Quieter cars such as electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) may reduce auditory cues used by pedestrians to assess the state of nearby traffic and, as a result, their use may have an adverse impact on pedestrian safety. In order to document differences in the sound levels of HEVs and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, the authors measured the sound pressure level in one-third octave bands of three HEV and three corresponding ICE vehicles for the following operating conditions: idle, backing up at 5 mph; approaching at a constant speed (6, 10, 20, 30, and 40 mph); accelerating from stop, and slowing from 20 to 10 mph at 3.28 ft/s2. Sound level results comparing the HEVs and ICEs are presented. In general, HEVs have lower sound levels than ICEs for operating conditions below 20 mph, but above 20 mph, the sound from road-tire interactions dominates and the sound levels of the two vehicle types converge.
Acoustic Characteristics of Hybrid Electric Vehicles and the Safety of Pedestrians Who are Blind
2010
17 pages
Report
No indication
English
Transportation & Traffic Planning , Transportation , Transportation Safety , Social Concerns , Acoustic Detection , Pedestrians , Blind persons , Acoustic measurement , Vehicles , Detection , Countermeasures , Acoustic data , Visually impaired , Ambient sounds , Safety scenarios , Hybrid electric vehicles , Blind pedestrians
Acoustic Characteristics of Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Safety of Blind Pedestrians
Transportation Research Record | 2011
|Acoustic Characteristics of Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Safety of Blind Pedestrians
Online Contents | 2011
|Auditory Detectability of Hybrid Electric Vehicles by Blind Pedestrians
Transportation Research Record | 2011
|Auditory Detectability of Hybrid Electric Vehicles by Blind Pedestrians
Online Contents | 2011
|