Noise, vibration, and harshness

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Noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), also known as noise and vibration (N&V), is the study and modification of the noise and vibration characteristics of vehicles, particularly cars and trucks. While noise and vibration can be readily measured, harshness is a subjective quality, and is measured either via jury evaluations, or with analytical tools that can provide results reflecting human subjective impressions. The latter tools belong to the field psychoacoustics.

Interior NVH deals with noise and vibration experienced by the occupants of the cabin, while exterior NVH is largely concerned with the noise radiated by the vehicle, and includes drive-by noise testing.

NVH is mostly engineering, but often objective measurements fail to predict or correlate well with the subjective impression on human observers. For example, although the ear's response at moderate noise levels is approximated by A-weighting, two different noises with the same A-weighted level are not necessarily equally disturbing. The field of psychoacoustics is partly concerned with this correlation.

In some cases, the NVH engineer is asked to change the sound quality, by adding or subtracting particular harmonics, rather than making the vehicle quieter.

Noise, vibration, and harshness for vehicles can be distinguished easily by quantifying the frequency. Vibration is between 0.5 Hz and 50 Hz, noise is between 20 Hz and 5000 Hz, and harshness takes the coupling of noise and vibration.