2019/11/29 by Antonio J. Torija, Torija, Antonio J., Zhengguang Li +3
Health Professions · Engineering · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Noise Effects and Management #Vehicle Noise and Vibration Control #Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1912.00087
Several industry leaders and governmental agencies are currently\ninvestigating the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones as commonly\nknown, for an ever-growing number of applications from blue light services to\nparcel delivery. For the specific case of the delivery sector, drones can\nalleviate road space usage and also lead to reductions in CO2 and air pollution\nemissions, compared to traditional diesel-powered vehicles. However, due to\ntheir unconventional acoustic characteristics and operational manoeuvres, it is\nuncertain how communities will respond to drone operations. Noise has been\nsuggested as a major barrier to public acceptance of drone operations in urban\nareas. In this paper, a series of audio-visual scenarios were created to\ninvestigate the effects of drone noise on the reported loudness, annoyance and\npleasantness of seven different types of urban soundscapes. In soundscapes\nhighly impacted by road traffic noise, the presence of drone noise lead to\nsmall changes in the perceived loudness, annoyance and pleasantness. In\nsoundscapes with reduced road traffic noise, the participants reported a\nsignificantly higher perceived loudness and annoyance and a lower pleasantness\nwith the presence of the same drone noise. For instance, the reported annoyance\nincreased from 2.3 (without drone noise) to 6.8 (with drone noise), in an\n11-point scale (0-not at all, 10-extremely). Based on these results, the\nconcentration of drone operations along flight paths through busy roads might\naid in the mitigation of the overall community noise impact caused by drones.\n