Effects of soundscape on preferences of the setting of wind parks with an audio-visual approach

The potential conflicts between wind parks and public has been enormously enhanced with increasing development of wind power. Previous studies also demonstrated the existence of Phenomena: the "not in my backyard", and that people's annoyance does not depend only on visual levels, but rather on multi-perceptual factors. Besides, it is undeniable that audio factor has played an important role in the reaction of the public to the development of new wind parks. In order to fill the gap in understanding the public's reaction to the wind parks on the landscape, this study uses an audio-visual preference survey to investigate the effects of the background sound and non-aural factor on the perception of wind parks, and the interaction between the aural and visual information. In this study visual and acoustic data were captured from 7 German rural landscape sites. Laboratory experiments will then be carried out with 40 well-trained participants to investigate the perception of the wind park project in rural areas. The experiments consisted of three parts: 1) visual -only condition, 2) audio-only condition, and 3) combined audio-visual condition. Participants will be immersed through google cardboard in laboratories using immersed virtual reality technology to evaluate the properties of sound and visual environment. The study demonstrates the effects of audio-visual interaction on the perception in landscape study, as well as in the reaction of the construction of a new wind park project and determines how the explanation of audible information is important in this process. Furthermore, the reconstruction of a realistic audio-visual environment provides a new approach for environmental aesthetic impact assessment that can help to study progressive the potential public disturbance related to a specific wind park project.