Effect of amplitude modulation in wind turbine noise on noise perception and annoyance

풍력 발전기 소음의 진폭변조가 소음 인지와 불쾌감에 미치는 영향

Wind turbines produce aerodynamic noise which fluctuate periodically at a blade passing frequency. This sound characteristic is called amplitude modulation, or swishing sound. Several previous studies claimed that this amplitude modulation has a possibility to increase noise annoyance. Thus, this study performed a listening test to find the relationship between the amplitude modulation in wind turbine noise on noise annoyance. The stimuli for the listening test was recorded from a 1.5MW wind turbine in Jeju island. The result of the listening test shows that the amplitude modulation in wind turbine noise significantly increase noise annoyance. Moreover, this study analytically examined the effect of amplitude modulation on noise perception. The result indicates that amplitude modulated sound can be easily perceived even though the background noise level is higher than the sound level of the signal.