Construction of virtual low-noise space in noisy agricultural facility for safety and comfort

Many types of agricultural facilities have been constructed at many places around the world. Although most of the operations are mechanized at these facilities, high noise from mechanical systems often prevents operators from discharging their duties efficiently and results in an unsafe environment. Virtual low-noise space is defined as the space required by operators in order to smoothly communicate in a high-noise environment, i.e., they feel as though they are working in a low-noise environment. The virtual low-noise space has three functions: to reduce the noise around the operators' ears, to communicate by speech without noise, to recreate the audio image on the basis of the operators' mutual positions. In this research, virtual low-noise space was constructed using noise-canceling headphones, microphones, a TV camera, and computers.