Uplifting sound quality for Crown Equipment Corporation

Sound is being recognized more and more as an important parameter when defining product quality. With this in focus, Crown Equipment Corporation decided to explore how to improve the sound of their forklift trucks. Their aim was to create better trucks and a more satisfying user experience.

 Challenge

Crown decided to examine forklift truck sound quality in detail. This was to help them understand the factors that influence the users’ perception of sound quality, and to equip them with the right skills to develop an even higher class of products. 

 Solution

A jury of end-users examined the sound quality of Crown’s trucks, as well as competitors’ products. Their ratings were correlated to specific sound quality metrics such as sharpness, loudness and modulation strength. This jury study enabled Crown to build a mathematical model that helps predict, measure and adjust the sound of all future product designs – much earlier in the development phase, and based on actual user preference.

 Results

Crown was able to use what they had learned about defining, measuring and analysing sound quality during the jury evaluation study to develop a new sound quality model design. The approach has enabled Crown to move from what was primarily a knowledge-based approach to one built on objective sound quality metrics.