NTL Record

Title Auditory detectability of hybrid electric vehicles by pedestrians who are blind
Record ID 35870
Personal Name
Creator
Garay-Vega, Lisandra; Pollard, John K.; Guthy, Catherine; Hastings, Aaron
Source Paper presented at the Transportation Research Board 90th Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, Jan 23-27, 2011; 13p. in various pagings
Corporate Creator John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
Publisher John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
Publication Date 20101115
Language English
Abstract 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.
Rosap ID dot:9039
Rosap URL https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/9039
TRT Terms Pedestrian safety; Blind persons; Hybrid vehicles; Auditory perception; Human factors
Classification NTL - ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT - ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT;
NTL - ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT - Environment Impacts;
NTL - PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLES - Pedestrians;
NTL - SAFETY AND SECURITY - Highway Safety;
NTL - SAFETY AND SECURITY - Vehicle Design;
NTL - SAFETY AND SECURITY - SAFETY AND SECURITY;
NTL - SAFETY AND SECURITY - Human Factors
Geographical
Coverage
United States
Availability Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Center
Resource type Proceedings
URL https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/35000/35800/35870/GarayVega_AuditoryDetectability.pdf
Format PDF
Database NTL Digital Repository