A 10 year retrospective and look ahead at the use of sound and visualisations for stakeholder engagement and understanding perceptions of disruptive technologies

Abstract

Originally conceived and developed to inform the design of some of the world’s best arts and culture venues, over the past 10+ years, Arup SoundLab has also been used to create sound demonstrations that simulate and gauge response to environmental sound. Sound demonstrations combine aural and visual simulations to enable clients, designers, major stakeholders and the general public to experience and better understand sound. They provide robust objective information to support decision making and help shape better outcomes for all. SoundLab has been used to inform the design of vertiport infrastructure; to assess annoyance and possible health impacts of novel noise sources; to inform local and international policy on noise; and to provide information on the early prototyping of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) vehicles. These applications are described in the paper, including a recent pilot study for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The EASA study provided insight into people’s response to AAM noise impacts, indicating that, in general, annoyance from AAM vehicles could be higher than for other transport modes, which may have implications for planning and legislation for AAM noise. As AAM applications broaden, auralisation and visualisation processes are being developed to facilitate understanding of the multi-faceted AAM planning, permitting and design processes. The immersive experience provides information that is valuable to the various parties involved. These include electric aircraft manufacturers to support understanding of evolving designs; policy makers and planning authorities who may have little knowledge or understanding of these novel noise sources; and airspace designers.