On translating minimum siting distances into percentages of receiving properties meeting a stated dB(A) criterion

Abstract

Around the world, minimum siting distances are used by regulators and developers to limit the effects of wind turbine noise on people. Acousticians know that the proper calculation is equal sound level contours, but customers, in this case the communities, developers, and regulators, all want simpler solutions. When creating limits for most industrial sources, noise levels from the source decrease monotonically with distance. For wind farms, the observing can be done from within the source and a monotonic function can no longer be assumed. This study makes use of data collected at over 1200 dwelling units as a part of the Health Canada Study. This paper provides a method to determine minimum siting distances based on predicted percentages of exceedances of dB(A) criterion at dwellings. A Riemann sum using CTL as a basis creates a model that can be applied to find acceptable minimum siting distances.