Dive Brief:

• A recent study conducted by researchers at NASA found the buzzing of drones is considered to be more annoying than sounds that come from other types of vehicles, like cars or trucks.
• The researchers played audio clips from various types of vehicles to participants, asking them to rank the noises from “not at all annoying” to “extremely annoying.” Drones scored the worst across the board, even for recordings when drones were at higher altitudes and different speeds.
• One NASA researcher told Digital Trends that the heightened annoyance with drone noise might spawn from how accustomed people are to car and truck noises. He also suggested that, since many people rely on those vehicles to get around, they're more willing to tolerate the noises.

Dive Insight:

The age of drones is coming. There are now more than 1.1 million consumer drones in the skies across the U.S., according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). On the commercial side, the world recently got a look at Amazon’s patent application for a beehive-like station for drones that could be put in cities across the world. Taco Bell, UPS and Domino’s Pizza have all also talked about incorporating drones into deliveries.

It is a possibility that people could become accustomed to drone noises, but lawmakers may still need to increase regulations on when and where drones can fly — especially for areas like Los Angeles and Dallas where noise pollution is already prevalent. After all, there are consequences to noises. Noise can heighten stress, disrupt sleep cycles and even lead to heart disease in some cases. Researchers estimate that about one-third of Americans are exposed to a harmful level noise that put them at risk of noise-related health problems.