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Investigation of Metrics for Assessing Human Response to Drone Noise

Torija, Antonio J.; Nicholls, Rory K.

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Authors

Rory K. Nicholls



Contributors

C Clark
Editor

PB Tchounwou
Editor

Abstract

Novel electric air transportation is emerging as an industry that could help to improve the lives of people living in both metropolitan and rural areas through integration into infrastructure and services. However, as this new resource of accessibility increases in momentum, the need to investigate any potential adverse health impacts on the public becomes paramount. This paper details research investigating the effectiveness of available noise metrics and sound quality metrics (SQMs) for assessing perception of drone noise. A subjective experiment was undertaken to gather data on human response to a comprehensive set of drone sounds and to investigate the relationship between perceived annoyance, perceived loudness and perceived pitch and key psychoacoustic factors. Based on statistical analyses, subjective models were obtained for perceived annoyance, loudness and pitch of drone noise. These models provide understanding on key psychoacoustic features to consider in decision making in order to mitigate the impact of drone noise. For the drone sounds tested in this paper, the main contributors to perceived annoyance are perceived noise level (PNL) and sharpness; for perceived loudness are PNL and fluctuation strength; and for perceived pitch are sharpness, roughness and Aures tonality. Responses for the drone sounds tested were found to be highly sensitive to the distance between drone and receiver, measured in terms of height above ground level (HAGL). All these findings could inform the optimisation of drone operating conditions in order to mitigate community noise.

Citation

Torija, A. J., & Nicholls, R. K. (2022). Investigation of Metrics for Assessing Human Response to Drone Noise. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(6), 3152. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063152

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 3, 2022
Online Publication Date Mar 8, 2022
Publication Date Mar 8, 2022
Deposit Date Mar 8, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 8, 2022
Journal International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Publisher MDPI
Volume 19
Issue 6
Pages 3152
DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063152
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063152
Related Public URLs http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
Additional Information Projects : Integrated Flight Control Energy Storage and Propulsion Technologies for Electric Aircraft (INCEPTION);DroneNoise: Addressing Public Health and Wellbeing Harms for a Sustainable Drone Sector
Grant Number: 73692
Grant Number: EP/V031848/1

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