Directional perception and its influence on noise annoyance from unmanned aerial vehicles

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, commonly known as drones, has seen a rapid increase in recent years and is projected to continue growing. As a result, drones have become a new source of environmental noise pollution, and the potential for annoyance reactions among the population is likely to increase. The literature shows that the noise from drones is more annoying than noise from road traffic or aircraft due to its unique acoustic characteristics, such as pure tones and high-frequency broadband noise. However, it is possible that non-acoustic factors, such as the listener's inability to locate the source, play a role in the perceived annoyance. This study aims to test and conclude whether this is a contributing factor to why drone noise is perceived as more annoying than other environmental noise sources.