A listening experiment exploring the relationship between noise annoyance and sound quality metrics for airborne energy systems

Abstract. The present study investigates the relationship between sound quality metrics (SQMs) and noise annoyance for airborne wind energy systems (AWESs) reported in a listening experiment. A convenience sample of 75 participants rated their annoyance on the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN) scale in response to nine recordings from in-field measurements of two different fixed-wing and one soft-wing ground-generation AWES. All recordings were normalized to have the same A-weighted equivalent sound pressure level. The acoustical analyses showed that the fixed-wing kites presented a more tonal and narrowband sound signature than the soft-wing kite. Linear-mixed effects models indicated that sharpness was the only SQM predicting participants’ annoyance ratings and that the fixed-wing kites were rated as more annoying than the soft-wing kite. In addition, the effect of some SQMs on annoyance depended on participant characteristics, with loudness having a weaker impact on annoyance for participants familiar with AWESs and tonality having a weaker effect on annoyance for older participants. However, these moderation effects could be random due to the non-probability sampling used.