technologies

major research projects
CoMposition, design, Mediation / Sound Design and Cognition
LoudNat
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Team Involved: Sound Perception and Design
Funding: ANR Programme blanc 2011
Calendar: November 2011—October 2015
Partners: IVA-INSA, Lyon and IMA-CNRS, Marseille
Coordinator: IVA-INSA
Loudness is a basic dimension of sound perception related
to sound intensity. Models exist to predict this feeling based
on measurements carried out on the sound signal, but they
are limited to specific cases of sounds that are unrelated
to natural environmental sounds. These restrictions
consequently limit the use of these models to measure the
loudness of environmental sounds that vary in time such
as a passing car. The general impression of loudness for a
listener therefore depends on the type of variation of the
sound’s characteristics that must be taken into account in
a predictive model. Moreover, the localization of a sound
source as well as the obstacle created by the listener’s
very body in an everyday situation lead to modifications
of a sound and inter-aural differences which affect how
loudness is judged by a listener. These modifications must
also be taken into account in a predictive model adapted for
environmental sounds. This project’s goal is to expand the
validity of loudness models to environmental sounds; the
study consists of psychoacoustic experiments that will test
several hypotheses concerning perceptive and cognitive
mechanisms that must be taken into account to modify and
adapt existing loudness models.
RoadSense
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Team Involved: Sound Perception and Design
Funding: ANR, Programme VTT
Calendar: October 2010–November 2013
Partners: AXIMUM, CETE, LEPSIS, Colas
Coordinator: AXIMUM
Team Involved: Sound Perception and Design
Funding: ANR – programme VTT
Calendar: October 2010—November 2013
Partners: AXIMUM, Cete, lepsis, Colas
Coordinator: AXIMUM
RoadSense is an industrial research project that aims
to design, implement, and validate via experiments a
system of assistance for drivers. This system consists of a
delineation (rumble strips) that creates an alarm—a sound
and vibrations— that is set off when the wheels pass a
specific limit. This system is designed to alert drivers whose
trajectory does not correspond with that of the road in the
countryside.
To reach this goal, the RoadSense project aims to:
• Propose a framework for the functional analysis of
the security of roads using current knowledge, the
identification of specific problems, and the circumstances
surrounding accidents on rural roads.
• Design a digital simulator for relevant sound signals,
implement them using a driving simulator and via physical
tests, and test their effectiveness and acceptability of a
“vigilance rumble strip” that uses sound delimitation of
the roadway.
• Carry out and test a new, low-cost system of assistance
for drivers. This system will be able to be applied quickly
and will work with all existing vehicles on roads, from
small country roads to highways, via a gradual validation
process in situ (on closed tracks and then on roads).
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