Birgitta Nyman

Birgitta has a MSc Engineering Physics. She has worked as a building acoustician for about eight years and four years as a hearing engineer after that. In 2018, she was employed by Scania in Södertälje. She started her PhD studies in 2022, at Lulea university of technology, as an industrial PhD student and is doing her research in sound quality of electrified trucks.

MSc Engineering Physics, LTH – Faculty of Engineering, Lund (2003). Health inspector, the Environment and Health Department, Stockholm city, Stockholm (2004-2005). Building acoustic consultant, WSP, Stockholm (2005-2013). Hearing engineer, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm (2013-2018). Test engineer acoustics complete vehicles, Scania, Södertälje (2018-2021).

Research project

Focusing on perception, Birgitta studies the sound pattern of electrified trucks. Tonality is an obvious area as well as the understanding of its importance in the complex context and sound environment for the driver. Electrified trucks, unlike combustion engine vehicles, have supplementary components such as cooling fans and pumps that often generate more or less continuous tonal sounds. Besides that, the vehicle is used as a working tool, driving long haulage for longer periods, which puts higher demands on comfort. The truck works as the driver's working environment as well as a place for rest and sleep. This requires specific demands on sound quality, in contrast to an ordinary passenger car.

The understanding of the interaction between the vehicle and the driver, directly and indirectly, is a part of the research question. Requirements on tonal sounds are tricky, while it most often is the relative levels that are important and not the absolute level. This means that the surrounding sounds and the context as well as driving operation have a large impact on the outcome. At present, no standardized measures takes tone-complexes into consideration. Sounds generated by electric vehicles are still novel and expectations and preferences are still not established. This project aims to find an acoustic platform to secure a safe and comfortable driving situation.