Tennis racket manufacturers rely on subjective assessments from testers during the development process. However, these assessments often lack validity and include multiple sources of inconsistency in the way testers make subjective ratings. The purpose of this research was, to investigate the suitability of the free-choice profiling (FCP) method in combination with Principle Component Analysis and Multiple Factor Analysis to determine the sensory profile of tennis rackets. FCP was found to be a suitable technique to quickly evaluate the sensory profile of rackets, however, consumer testers tended to use ill-defined, industry-generated terms, which negatively impacted discrimination and inter-rater agreement. Discrimination and inter-rater agreement improved for attributes referring to measurable parameters of the rackets, such as vibration. This study furthers understanding about tennis racket feel and supports racket engineers in designing new subjective testing methods, which provide more meaningful data regarding racket feel.
Funding
HEAD Sport GmbH
History
School
Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering
Published in
Proceedings 2020
Volume
49
Issue
1
Source
13th conference of the International Sports Engineering Association
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).