Characterization of wind turbine noise using psychoacoustical indicators

Noise annoyance caused by wind turbines is a significant issue for people living in the vicinity of wind farms, leading to difficulty in its societal acceptance. Annoyance due to Wind Turbine Noise (WTN) has been regulated using conventional environmental indices, which often fail to account fully the human perception of noise exposure. This study proposes the use of psychoacoustical indicators to assess the character of WTN in Ireland. Fourteen noise measurement locations were selected near wind farms in County Wexford (Ireland) with audio recordings made at each location, when WTN was the dominant source. These recordings are analyzed to extract different psychoacoustic indicators and Zwicker's psychoacoustical annoyance. Further clustering of these sound samples was performed to understand the overall character of WTN and its associated annoyance. This characterization provides an understanding of how the variation in psychoacoustical indicators might lead to changes in the perception of wind farm noise. These results can be employed to develop sound quality maps and further develop noise annoyance models complemented by conducting listening experiments.