Drone Acceptance and Noise Concerns - Some Findings

Kurzfassung

Drone acceptance and noise concerns – some findings Drones – understood here as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in civil context - are becoming more and more present in public perception. Reaching from parcel delivery to wildlife protection, from precision farming to law enforcement, and from industrial inspection to digital fireworks, many applications are said to have market-changing potential, and nations and institutions around the world are trying to keep up with the dynamic development concerning rules and regulations. As a strong increase in the number and uses of drones is anticipated by all parties involved there is a rising interest concerning the acceptance of civil drones in the public. Widespread public acceptance can promote the successful dissemination of new technologies. But as shown with the planning of airport extensions for example lacking acceptance in the public can be a limit to aviation growth in general. Likewise, concerns of citizens about the use of drones in their daily environment could be potential barriers to the further proliferation of civil drones, especially in urban areas. The psychoacoustic properties of drones have repeatedly been discussed as being one such limiting factor. This paper reports findings of a study about the acceptance of civil drones in Germany. 832 respondents participated in a phone interview of about 20 minutes duration. This paper will describe factors of drone acceptance with a special reference to noise concerns as stated by about half of the study participants.