Effectiveness of the active noise control technique for improving the noise climate inside the cab of a construction machine

An active noise control device (ANC) following a single channel feed-forward scheme was used in order to verify the possibility to improve the noise climate at the operator station of a construction machine. The modifications induced by this ANC system were subjectively evaluated with regards to some noise features (tiredness, concentration loss, loudness and booming) important for qualifying comfort and the working safety conditions for the machine. The results showed that the implemented ANC system lowered the overall noise level up to 7 dB and the reductions induced by this controller in the low frequency range positively affected the subjective evaluations with respect to all the considered features.