Influences of vehicle-exterior images on loudness ratings of Japanese versus German drivers

A study was conducted to examine Influences of vehicle-exterior images on loudness ratings of Japanese against German drivers. Character ratings of vehicle-exterior images were carried out to determine the participants' overall impression of the images, and to select the images for the following loudness-rating experiment. Thirty exterior images of vehicles sold in the EU, US, and Japan were employed as visual stimuli for the study. All vehicles were selected with similar colors to minimize the influence of color on loudness. Five vehicle images from the luxury group and five images from the sporty group were selected for the subsequent loudness rating test performed in each country on the basis of the impression maps. Five sporty and five luxury vehicle images for Japanese loudness rating test were selected voluntarily from the Japanese vehicle impression map, and five sporty and five luxury vehicle images for German loudness rating test were selected from the German impression map for conducting the investigations.