Sound from unmanned aerial vehicles in ambient acoustic environments: Influences of context, vehicle characteristics and flight operations on human perception and response

Abstract

The potential opportunities for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to offer wide societal benefits are accompanied by risks of introducing novel sources of community noise impact. Accordingly, it is important to develop a greater understanding of the subjective perception and response to UAV sound. Suitable evidence-based strategies for managing the potential risks to public health and wellbeing can then be devised in the form of flight path optimisation tools, to support initial technology deployment efforts. The ‘REFMAP’ project aims to develop these tools, which will include a component enabling noise constraints to be considered. In support of this objective, a laboratory listening experiment has been undertaken to study psychoacoustic aspects of UAV sound exposure. The experiment design incorporated influences of contextual auditory and soundscape factors, by embedding spatially rendered UAV sound events within ambisonic recordings of urban acoustic environments. The UAV renderings comprised varying flight operations and numbers of flight events. The experiment was focussed on determining both perceptual noticeability and affective responses to UAV sound, including noise annoyance. Initial results from the experimental data analysis are discussed, in the context of future planned work within the REFMAP research project.