Abstract

Among the factors related to the operation of wind farms, wind turbine noise has to be seen as a source of annoyance for both people living and working near wind farms.  A method and a test bench to conduct noise annoyance tests of different types of wind turbine noise in laboratory conditions have been developed. The test bench is based on a multi-channel sound reproducing system using the DANTE network (in which digital acoustic signals are broadcast over Ethernet) and is compiled in the acoustic test chamber. The test bench consists of 19 speakers, including 17 Avantone MixCube studio monitors and 2 LS600 woofers. During the tests a study subject is assessed in terms of efficiency and performance using a computer-based ALS test from the Vienna Test System. The paper describes the test method, the test bench and the results of the pilot studies carried out to assess the impact of wind turbine noise on human performance.