Towards an European Sound Label for Household Appliances: Psychoacoustical Aspects and Challenges

The European Union energy label, which provides information on the energy consumption of household appliances, has proven its reliability for the customers in recent years. However, a label for the product sound perception, which can be very useful for the customers but also manufacturers, is not available up to now. The energy label is required to include the sound power level of the devices. Although the sound power level is an important acoustical parameter, it does not characterize the customers' perception of product sound sufficiently. The psychoacoustical parameters, e.g., loudness, sharpness, tonality, roughness, fluctuation strength, etc., are much more useful for characterization purposes. However, in some cases it is required to adapt these parameters for complex household product sounds and to model their interaction. Another important issue refers to the optimal measurement environment (anechoic chamber vs. real living environment) and the measurement conditions for sound quality testing. The aims of this study are to summarize the results of investigations, which were conducted on two different household appliances (vacuum cleaner, dishwasher), and discuss the future milestones on the way to a European sound label.