How to Improve Product Sounds Using Acoustic Simulations

Engineers tend to spend a lot of time tweaking and simulating a design to optimize its look, feel and performance. However, they should not underestimate the sounds made by their products by addressing them late in the development cycle.

Engineers can design the best dishwasher in the world. But if its too loud, or too quiet, people may not think it’s working properly.

The perceived quality that sound gives a product can be positive as well. We all wait in anticipation for the pop of a toaster, the snap of a seat belt or the click of a connector. In fact, these sounds are so satisfying that it’s common to hear them in commercials.

On the other hand, a bad sound could be disastrous to a product. Imagine a ceiling fan that cooled a room in seconds but sounded like a helicopter — no one would buy it.

Since sounds can impact product sales, it could be problematic if engineering teams use the traditional method of waiting until physical prototyping to listen to their design for the first time. At this stage of the development cycle, it could be too costly to fix the problem.

What if you could just listen to your product’s sound during the design stage of development? Yes, you can by using acoustic simulations. In fact, companies have started to create whole departments that focus on optimizing product sounds.

Without the satisfying snap, people would wonder if their seatbelt was working properly. With acoustic simulations, engineers can ensure the product sounds optimal.

The Science Behind Acoustic Simulations

Before we dig into how to listen to a simulation, let’s discuss where these sounds come from.

Products that contain vibrating parts, impacting components, fluid flows and electromagnetic fields can all produce sound by vibrating the air, or medium, around them. So, to simulate the noises that products make, you must first simulate their functions.

For instance, to simulate the sound inside a car, you must model the wind that brushes past it and the vibroacoustic behavior of the powertrain. Even the sounds of an air conditioning system are important for quieter electric vehicles (EV).

Once the product operations are modeled, all of these noises can be identified and studied for their sound level and quality. The levels can be calculated in decibels, a unit of sound that measures its pressure, power and intensity.

However, it’s harder and subjective to assess sound quality. Psychoacoustic indicators like loudness, sharpness, roughness, tonality and fluctuation strength can estimate the sound perception. However, to get an accurate rating of sound quality, engineers need to conduct listening tests with groups of people and statistical analysis. As sound quality is subjective, the best way to judge it is for each person in the test to listen to it.

That is why acoustic simulations are so important: They can help design the functional aspect of a product and its sound as well..