Michiel Allan Aurelius Schallig

Adequacy of product sound: Design–develop test; is it so simple?

Philips DAP B.V. is a major producer of consumer household appliances. Electric shavers and vacuum cleaners are examples of the products that are produced. Consumer satisfaction is of paramount importance for the company. This is obvious for the functional aspects of the appliance, but satisfaction goes beyond functionality. Design, price, ergonomics, and sound are a few aspects which can contribute to the desired level of satisfaction. To achieve this delicate balance within such different constraints is a difficult process. Control of the sound production of appliances is something that has to be tackled from the start of the development, but becomes increasingly difficult. Especially ‘‘softer’’ constraints like ‘‘sound quality’’ blurr the development process. Despite the difficulties, these softer aspects are considered more and more important. In the real development processes, however, it is, for example, very difficult to get good measurement data of human perception. Often this is done by panel res...