The evaluation process of sound and vibration - integrating interdisciplinary concepts

Evaluation of comfort or sound quality associated with sound and vibration is a complex process for which there is no well established general approach. An integrating, transdisciplinary approach incorporating contextual interdependencies, socio-acoustic and psychological methods, the signficance of modifiers, and the importance of sensorial modifiers is proposed. An example of the approach, using a context-oriented semantic differential method (SDM) is described for aircraft and helicopters. It is suggested that the example SDM must be adapted for cultural backgrounds and contextual aspects of language when used with international test subjects.