Subjective assessment of wind turbine noise annoyance – tests in laboratory conditions

The constant growth of energy demand, as well as the accompanying increase in environmental pollution resulting from the prevailing use of fossil fuels, has led to a rising use of energy from renewable sources. The use of wind turbines to generate electricity has many obvious advantages, such as lack of fuel costs during operation and lack of harmful pollutants, including carbon dioxide. Despite advantages, the use of wind turbines constantly raises questions concerning the impact of wind farms on humans. This impact includes many factors related to the operation of wind farms, and in particular noise emitted by these farms. The wind turbine noise impact on humans has been studied by the Central Institute for Labour Protection – National Research Institute. A test bench to conduct noise annoyance tests of different types of wind turbine noise in laboratory conditions have been developed. During exposures to 6 different virtual acoustic environments, representing different wind turbine noise, 40 participants assessed wind turbine noise annoyance. The paper describes the results of the studies concerning the assessment of wind turbine noise annoyance.