Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.4
Journals
IJERPH
Special Issues
Drone Noise: A New Public Health Challenge
ijerph-logo
Submit to IJERPH Review for IJERPH Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Drone Noise: A New Public Health Challenge

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2021) | Viewed by 23571

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Antonio J. Torija Martinez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Acoustics Research Centre, University of Salford, Manchester M5 4WT, UK
Interests: environmental acoustics; transportation noise; aircraft noise; noise modeling; psychoacoustics; community noise impact
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are on the cusp of a revolution in the aviation sector, driven by significant progress in electric power and battery technologies and robotics and autonomous systems. Several industry leaders and governmental agencies are currently investigating the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or ‘drones’ as they are commonly known, for an ever-growing number of applications from blue light services to parcel delivery and even passenger transportation. Thus, it seems quite likely that, in a short while, communities in cities will be inundated with a new source of noise due to UAV operations that they have not encountered before. At the same time, UAVs can provide services to remote locations in the countryside.

UAVs can bring substantial economic, environmental and societal benefits, but at the same time, the noise generated by these technologies can significantly affect the health and well-being of populations both in urban and rural locations. If not appropriately addressed, noise issues might put at risk the expansion of the UAV sector.

This Special Issue seeks research papers on various aspects of UAV noise. We encourage the submission of manuscripts that focus on, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • UAV noise perception and detection;
  • Experimental and modeling approaches, e.g. auralisation;
  • Effects of UAV noise on human health and well-being;
  • UAV noise in rural environments and impact on wildlife;
  • Impact of UAV noise on urban and rural soundscapes;
  • Audio–visual interactions in UAV noise perception;
  • Specific noise concerns with UAV operations for package and good deliveries;
  • Policy and legislation.

Dr. Antonio J. Torija Martinez
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Drones
  • Acoustics
  • Noise sources
  • Soundscape
  • Noise regulation
  • Public health
  • Noise annoyance
  • Perception and detection
  • Public acceptability

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

17 pages, 2135 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Sound Source Tracking Using Multiple Drones Equipped with Multiple Microphone Arrays
by Taiki Yamada, Katsutoshi Itoyama, Kenji Nishida and Kazuhiro Nakadai
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(17), 9039; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18179039 - 27 Aug 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1945
Abstract
Drone audition techniques are helpful for listening to target sound sources from the sky, which can be used for human searching tasks in disaster sites. Among many techniques required for drone audition, sound source tracking is an essential technique, and thus several tracking [...] Read more.
Drone audition techniques are helpful for listening to target sound sources from the sky, which can be used for human searching tasks in disaster sites. Among many techniques required for drone audition, sound source tracking is an essential technique, and thus several tracking methods have been proposed. Authors have also proposed a sound source tracking method that utilizes multiple microphone arrays to obtain the likelihood distribution of the sound source locations. These methods have been demonstrated in benchmark experiments. However, the performance against various sound sources with different distances and signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) has been less evaluated. Since drone audition often needs to listen to distant sound sources and the input acoustic signal generally has a low SNR due to drone noise, making a performance assessment against source distance and SNR is essential. Therefore, this paper presents a concrete evaluation of sound source tracking methods using numerical simulation, focusing on various source distances and SNRs. The simulated results captured how the tracking performance will change when the sound source distance and SNR change. The proposed approach based on location distribution estimation tended to be more robust against distance increase, while existing approaches based on directional estimation tended to be more robust against decreasing SNR. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drone Noise: A New Public Health Challenge)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

27 pages, 4142 KiB  
Article
Quantification of the Psychoacoustic Effect of Noise from Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
by C. T. Justine Hui, Michael J. Kingan, Yusuke Hioka, Gian Schmid, George Dodd, Kim N. Dirks, Shaun Edlin, Sean Mascarenhas and Young-Min Shim
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(17), 8893; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18178893 - 24 Aug 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2384
Abstract
This paper presents the results of a study evaluating the human perception of the noise produced by four different small quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This study utilised measurements and recordings of the noise produced by the quadcopter UAVs in hover and in [...] Read more.
This paper presents the results of a study evaluating the human perception of the noise produced by four different small quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This study utilised measurements and recordings of the noise produced by the quadcopter UAVs in hover and in constant-speed flight at a fixed altitude. Measurements made using a ½″ microphone were used to calculate a range of different noise metrics for each noise event. Noise recordings were also made using a spherical microphone array (an Eigenmike system). The recordings were reproduced using a 3D sound reproduction system installed in a large anechoic chamber located at The University of Auckland. Thirty-seven participants were subjected to the recordings and asked to rate their levels of annoyance in response to the noise, and asked to perform a simple cognitive task in order to assess the level of distraction caused by the noise. This study discusses the noise levels measured during the test and how the various noise metrics relate to the annoyance ratings. It was found that annoyance strongly correlates with the sound pressure level and loudness metrics, and that there is a very strong correlation between the annoyance caused by a UAV in hover and in flyby at the same height. While some significant differences between the distraction caused by the UAV noise for different cases were observed in the cognitive distraction test, the results were inconclusive. This was likely due to a ceiling effect observed in the participants’ test scores. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drone Noise: A New Public Health Challenge)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 63422 KiB  
Article
Comparative UAV Noise-Impact Assessments through Survey and Noise Measurements
by Jurica Ivošević, Emir Ganić, Antonio Petošić and Tomislav Radišić
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(12), 6202; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18126202 - 08 Jun 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3146
Abstract
Possibilities to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are rapidly growing. With the development of battery technologies, communication, navigation, surveillance, and autonomous systems in general, many UAVs are expected to operate at relatively low altitudes. Thus, the problem of UAV noise impact on human [...] Read more.
Possibilities to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are rapidly growing. With the development of battery technologies, communication, navigation, surveillance, and autonomous systems in general, many UAVs are expected to operate at relatively low altitudes. Thus, the problem of UAV noise impact on human health and well-being will be more pronounced. In this paper, we conducted noise measurements of two UAVs of different performance (quadrotor and hexarotor) in flying up and down, hovering, and overflight procedures. Respondents of good hearing who were confirmed by audiogram measurement and had participated in the survey during UAV noise measurement gave their subjective assessments on the UAV noise perception. UAV noise measurements and subjective respondents’ assessments were analysed and related. UAV noise analysis showed that the parameters measured at the same measurement point for the hexarotor were higher than those for the quadrotor in flying up and down and flying-over procedures. Low frequency noise was present in the noise spectrum of both drones. Participants were able to distinguish between the noise of UAVs and had a generally more negative experience with the hexarotor. Regardless of the noise perception, more than 80% of the respondents believe there are more pros than cons for UAV introduction into everyday life. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drone Noise: A New Public Health Challenge)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

27 pages, 2908 KiB  
Review
Drone Noise Emission Characteristics and Noise Effects on Humans—A Systematic Review
by Beat Schäffer, Reto Pieren, Kurt Heutschi, Jean Marc Wunderli and Stefan Becker
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(11), 5940; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18115940 - 01 Jun 2021
Cited by 50 | Viewed by 8599
Abstract
The number of operations of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), commonly referred to as “drones”, has strongly increased in the past and is likely to further grow in the future. Therefore, drones are becoming a growing new source of environmental noise pollution, and annoyance [...] Read more.
The number of operations of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), commonly referred to as “drones”, has strongly increased in the past and is likely to further grow in the future. Therefore, drones are becoming a growing new source of environmental noise pollution, and annoyance reactions to drone noise are likely to occur in an increasing share of the population. To date, research on drone noise emission characteristics, and in particular also on health impacts, seems scarce, but systematic overviews on these topics are missing. The objective of this study was to establish a systematic literature review on drone noise emissions and noise effects on humans. The paper presents the methodology of the systematic reviews performed separately for noise emission and noise effects, assembles current literature, gives an overview on the state of knowledge, and identifies research gaps. Current literature suggests that drone noise is substantially more annoying than road traffic or aircraft noise due to special acoustic characteristics such as pure tones and high-frequency broadband noise. A range of open questions remains to be tackled by future studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drone Noise: A New Public Health Challenge)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 1744 KiB  
Review
A Psychoacoustic Approach to Building Knowledge about Human Response to Noise of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
by Antonio J. Torija and Charlotte Clark
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(2), 682; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18020682 - 14 Jan 2021
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 5123
Abstract
We are on the cusp of a revolution in the aviation sector, driven by the significant progress in electric power and battery technologies, and autonomous systems. Several industry leaders and governmental agencies are currently investigating the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or [...] Read more.
We are on the cusp of a revolution in the aviation sector, driven by the significant progress in electric power and battery technologies, and autonomous systems. Several industry leaders and governmental agencies are currently investigating the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or “drones” as commonly known, for an ever-growing number of applications—from blue light services to parcel delivery and urban mobility. Undoubtedly, the operation of UAVs will lead to noise exposure, which has the potential to become a significant public health issue. This paper first describes the main acoustic and operational characteristics of UAVs, as an unconventional noise source compared to conventional civil aircraft. Gaps in the literature and the regulations on the noise metrics and acceptable noise levels are identified and discussed. The state-of-the-art evidence on human response to aircraft and other environmental noise sources is reviewed and its application for UAVs discussed. A methodological framework is proposed for building psychoacoustic knowledge, to inform systems and operations development to limit the noise impact on communities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drone Noise: A New Public Health Challenge)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop