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Excessive wind noise is one of the most complained problems by owners of new vehicles as evidenced by JD Power Initial Quality Study (IQS) in recent years. After the vehicle speed surpasses 100 km/h, wind noise is gradually becoming the dominant noise source. In an effort to reduce aeroacoustic noise level, Beamforming (BF) is a very effective noise source identification technique used during vehicle wind noise development phases. In this work, based on the planar BF methodology, a large semi-circle microphone array is designed in accordance with the desired resolution and dynamic range pertaining to actual noise source distribution on a typical passenger vehicle. Acoustic array calibration and mapping deformation correction are accomplished by multi-point source method, and the Doppler Effect due to wind is corrected by the location calibration method.

An issue of engine squealing in low temperature range (around −25°C) right after start-up emerged for a significant number of vehicles in a vehicle program. The earlier effort had focused on typical common culprits such as the pulley-belt systems etc. However, much effort, by subjective listening and guestimating hardware replacement, yielded no fruitful results for more than a year. The application of near-field acoustic holography on top of the engine in a climate chamber quickly identified several noise source locations. Further noise source identification effort on top, front and left side of the engine pinpointed the top three noise source locations: the idler pulley and water pump on front, the air compressor on right side, and the air intake throttle on top. Then a series of experiments were subsequently conducted, leading to a conclusion that the idler pulley was the source of the issue.