VEHICLE RIDE COMFORT ASSESSMENT METHODS

Abstract

Vibration of motor vehicles can produce wide variety of different sensations in different parts of the driver’s human body. A large range of expressions as well comfort, discomfort, intensity, etc. can be used to obtain information on subject preferences. It is of primary importance to distinguish between the sensation of discomfort and the interference with driving activities. Context of judgments should be made clear so that subjects whether they should judge the motion as they are experienced or as they might be experienced in different place or alter a different length of time. It seems preferable to ask subjects to judge the sensations they actually experience, to phrase the question so as to emphasize the subjective sensations and to a void words that may relate solely to activity disturbance or physical magnitude of the stimulus. There are many different methods of relating judgments along a psychological dimension to the physical characteristics of stimulus. Scaling methods may be used to determine the extent to which discomfort changes when physical magnitude of stimulus is altered. These are other methods are also used to determine the subjective response to changes in vibration frequency and axis.