Perception and annoyance due to wind turbine noise: a dose-response relationship

Installed global wind power increased by 26% during 2003, with U.S and Europe accounting for 90% of the cumulative capacity. Little is known about wind turbines' impact on people living in their vicinity. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of annoyance due to wind turbine no...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2004-12, Vol.116 (6), p.3460-3470
Main Authors: PEDERSEN, Eja, WAYE, Kerstin Persson
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
acoustic intensity
Acoustics
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Attitude
Cross-Sectional Studies
Exact sciences and technology
Female
Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications)
hearing
Humans
Loudness Perception
Male
Middle Aged
Noise
noise pollution
Physics
Power Plants
Psychoacoustics
Social Environment
Sweden
TECHNOLOGY
TEKNIKVETENSKAP
transportation
Visual Perception
Wind
wind turbines
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Summary:Installed global wind power increased by 26% during 2003, with U.S and Europe accounting for 90% of the cumulative capacity. Little is known about wind turbines' impact on people living in their vicinity. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of annoyance due to wind turbine noise and to study dose-response relationships. Interrelationships between noise annoyance and sound characteristics, as well as the influence of subjective variables such as attitude and noise sensitivity, were also assessed. A cross-sectional study was performed in Sweden in 2000. Responses were obtained through questionnaires (n = 351; response rate 68.4%), and doses were calculated as A-weighted sound pressure levels for each respondent. A statistically significant dose-response relationship was found, showing higher proportion of people reporting perception and annoyance than expected from the present dose-response relationships for transportation noise. The unexpected high proportion of annoyance could be due to visual interference, influencing noise annoyance, as well as the presence of intrusive sound characteristics. The respondents' attitude to the visual impact of wind turbines on the landscape scenery was found to influence noise annoyance.
ISSN:0001-4966
1520-8524
1520-8524
DOI:10.1121/1.1815091