A psychoacoustic approach to building knowledge about human response to noise of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Torija Martinez, AJ; Clark, C

Abstract

We are on the cusp of a revolution in the aviation sector, driven by the significant progress on electric power and battery technologies, and autonomous systems. Several industry leaders and governmental agencies are currently investigating the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or ‘drones’ as commonly known, for an ever-growing number of applications from blue light services to parcel delivery and urban mobility. Undoubtedly the operation of UAVs will lead to noise exposure, which has the potential to become a significant public health issue. This paper first describes the main acoustic and operational characteristics of UAVs, as an unconventional noise source compared with conventional civil aircraft. Gaps in literature and regulation on noise metrics and acceptable noise levels are identified and discussed. State-of-the-art evidence on human response to aircraft noise and other environmental noise sources is reviewed and its application for UAVs discussed. A methodological framework is proposed for building psychoacoustic knowledge to inform systems and operations development for a minor noise impact on communities

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 12, 2021
• Publication Date: Jan 14, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jan 12, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 18, 2021
• Journal: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Electronic ISSN: 1660-4601
• Publisher: MDPI
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 682
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020682
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020682
• Related Public URLs: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph