Indoor noise annoyance due to 3–5 megawatt wind turbines—An exposure–response relationship

Abstract

The existing exposure–response relationships describing the association between wind turbine sound level and noise annoyance concern turbine sizes of 0.15–3.0 MW. The main purpose of this study was to determine a relationship concerning turbines with nominal power of 3–5 MW. A cross-sectional survey was conducted around three wind power areas in Finland. The survey involved all households within a 2 km distance from the nearest turbine. Altogether, 429 households out of 753 participated. The households were exposed to wind turbine noise having sound levels within 26.7–44.2 dB LAeq. Standard prediction methods were applied to determine the sound level, LAeq, in each participant's yard. The measured sound level agreed well with the predicted sound level. The exposure–response relationship was derived between LAeq outdoors and the indoor noise annoyance. The relationship was in rather good agreement with two previous studies involving much smaller turbines (0.15–1.5 MW) under 40 dB LAeq. The Community Tolerance Level (CTL), CTL20 = 50 dB, was 3 dB lower than for two previous studies. Above 40 dB, a small number of participants prevented a reliable comparison to previous studies.

Impact of Long-Term Exposure to Wind Turbine Noise on Redemption of Sleep Medication and Antidepressants: A Nationwide Cohort Study

“…Epidemiological studies have consistently found that emission of noise from WTs is associated with annoyance (Guski et al. 2017; Hongisto et al. 2017; Michaud et al.…”

Studies on the Experimental Measurement of the Low-Frequency Aerodynamic Noise of Large Wind Turbines

“…Valtteri Hongisto et al studied the relationship between the sound pressure level of large wind turbines (3-5 MW) and the indoor noise disturbance of surrounding residents based on a sample of 429 participants around three wind power areas. The results indicate that when the sound pressure level is below 40 dB of LAeq, the prevalence of high disturbance is less than 4% [31].…”

Effects of Different Spectral Shapes and Amplitude Modulation of Broadband Noise on Annoyance Reactions in a Controlled Listening Experiment

“…Second, larger WTs may emit more low-frequent sound [ 29 ]. However, changes in spectral shape are much less pronounced than in the situations studied here, and a recent study suggested that the size of WTs might not be relevant for annoyance [ 59 ]. Third, annoyance might be reduced by reducing the occurrence of periodic AM by blade pitch control [ 60 ] and by prevention of stall on the WT blades [ 14 ].…”