A Review of Non-Acoustic Measures to Handle Community Response to Noise around Airports (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Role of Communication and Engagement in Airport Noise Management
Sustainability, 2021
Research suggests that non-acoustic factors can have a considerable effect on community attitudes and opinions towards aviation noise and that these can be influenced through processes of communication and engagement. This paper reviews literature from various fields to identify the key elements of effective practice, using them as a lens through which to assess case study noise management actions conducted at European airports. This analysis found that communication and engagement holds significant potential for noise management, but that this remains largely unfulfilled due to such methods being used as an ancillary management activity, rather than as a powerful tool to aid in the design and delivery of noise management actions. A series of recommendations and research priorities are proposed that could shape the future of noise management, including potential changes to European policy that more explicitly advocate for communication and engagement as a noise management tool in it...
Noise-related land-use restrictions are included in Brazilian regulations since the beginning of the 1980s. These restrictions are applied in areas subjected to aircraft noise levels higher than compatibility criterion defined by the responsible authorities. However, noise-related conflicts remain common not only in Brazilian airports, and there are reactions from communities located in areas considered compatible by the regulations. Additionally, the current metric for aircraft noise evaluation in Brazil (Ldn - Day-Night Average Sound Level) is not easily understood by the general public, which jeopardizes the communication between airports and the communities affected by the noise. Given this scenario, the objective of this work is to propose a new methodology for aircraft noise evaluation, based on the application of weights on the number of noise events, with the objective of providing a good correlation with perceived annoyance, together with an increased ease of understanding to people without technical knowledge on acoustics. To validate this methodology, a survey was realized at the surrounding areas of the São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport (GRU), in Brazil, with the use of online forms and advertisements published in social networks. The 547 responses obtained were used to evaluate the annoyance level caused by aircraft noise on the communities living on the surroundings of this airport. The results show that the proposed Weighted Number Above (WNA) and Verbal Number-Above (VNA) metrics are similar to the Ldn in terms of correlation with the reported annoyance, and has the additional advantage of the improved ease of understanding. The analysis also show that the current aircraft noise compatibility criteria are associated with annoyance levels higher than the ones foreseen by the applicable requirements, which confirms the need to consider community engagement aspects on the land-use definitions around airports, and not only the subjective aspects of noise acceptability.
Journal of Transport …, 2011
Airport capacity continues to be one of the air transport issues that creates the most concern. The major environmental constraint for airports is the noise generated by aircraft. Annoyed communities living around airports have become a limiting factor for airport capacity and operability. This paper brings together the existing literature in the fields of airport environmental capacity, non-acoustic factors of noise annoyance, NIMBYism and environmental conflicts. We also analyze the socio-environmental conflict between Barcelona airport and the community of Gavà Mar. This case shows that the lack of trust between parties, the impossibility of predicting noise exposure, the absence of opportunities for civil society to speak and the difficulty of accessing relevant information foster annoyance and mobilization in the communities that live around the airport. In addition, it is shown that, in such a situation, commu-nities' reactions can evolve to a post-NIMBY stage in which proactive attitudes replace reactive ones.
2020
Environmental noise from aviation represents a significant health burden for citizens and a major constraint to airport development. Industry has responded through noise abatement interventions, however research conducted in the ANIMA Project suggests non-acoustic factors are central to the human health response to noise, and that many of these factors can be influenced by airports engaging with their communities. This paper presents the results of a series of case studies seeking to understand the state of the art in noise communications undertaken by European Member State airports, comparing them to what the literature suggests is 'Best Practice'. Current practices are found to be comprehensive, but lacking in a number of key areas, suggesting the industry can enhance the quality of its communication activities and have a positive influence on the role of non-acoustic factors in driving noise annoyance.
Reducing noise impact and improving quality of life by addressing annoyance
2020
Aircraft noise is the most significant impact on communities residing near airports. But in addition to acoustical factors, non-acoustical factors also contribute to noise annoyance. In the ANIMA project, relevant indicators influencing the quality of life of residents living near airport are identified. Literature studies, but also focus group meetings and workshops, and online survey for communities near altogether nine different European airports are performed to understand the role of the airport and the implications on the well-being of citizens. Furthermore, it is intended to study what current communication strategies of the airports are and how they influence the impact of aircraft noise on residents? annoyance response and well-being. A detailed literature study as well as a re-analysis of data has been carried out to develop awakenings indicators for nocturnal fly-overs, as noise-induced sleep disturbance has been linked to adverse health effects and is also associated wit...
INTER-NOISE and NOISE-CON Congress and Conference Proceedings
The current study presents the analysis of seven airport exemplification case studies undertaken in the European project "Aviation Noise Impact Management through Novel Approaches - ANIMA". Best practices related to aircraft noise management at airports in individual airport contexts were implemented and evaluated. Case studies on communication and community engagement in airport noise management were investigated at Heathrow (Great Britain), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Rotterdam The Hague (The Netherlands) airports. For Zaporizhzhia (Ukraine) and Iasi (Romania) airports, the implementation of interventions related to land use planning was examined. The interdependencies between noise and emissions were studied for Cluj (Romania) and Catania (Italy) airports. All case studies were performed under the scope of the corresponding national legislation and guidelines. Individual characteristics of airport operations were taken into account. The case studies were aligned with expec...
A Novel Tool to Estimate the Impact – Beyond Acoustics – of Aircraft Noise on Airport Communities
2020
In the H2020 project ANIMA, a tool chain is developed, making it possible to predict the noise impact of chosen flight scenarios whilst including new technologies and architectures. The goal is to give end-users, the possibility to calculate noise maps for a full virtual aircraft fleet over a certain amount of time. All that by including annoyance related metrics! <br> The toolchain itself consists of a so-called Noise Reduction Solutions Simulator and a Virtual Community Tool (VCT). The Simulator is capable of modelling a fleet of current and future aircraft around an airport, creating a noise map with integrated levels (classical acoustic metrics) for given scenarios. <br> The VCT adds impact and perception related indicators to the conventional noise maps. The awakening factor was chosen as first indicator for implementation that calculates additional awakenings per night when changing scenario configurations.<br> The VCT represents the interface with the end-us...
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2018
In December 2014, a new terminal building was opened at the Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport (HNBIA) with two runways, causing a 20%-30% increase in the number of flights. Three socio-acoustic surveys were conducted in August-September 2014, February-March 2015, and August-September 2015, to contribute not only to the environmental impact assessments and aircraft noise policies in Vietnam but also to more global intervention studies. Because of the change of runway use, in addition to the increased number of flights, noise exposure at each site changed considerably among the surveys. Changes in the noise exposure from the first to the second or third survey (ΔL and ΔL) were used as a measure of exposure change. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that ΔL has a significant positive effect on annoyance regardless of ΔL ranges, but the effect of ΔL on insomnia was significant only for ΔL > 0. Annoyance increase in the overall ΔL range may be caused by the respondents'...
Proceedings of the ICA congress, 2019
The Multiple Item Noise Annoyance Scale (MIAS) measures noise annoyance as a multidimensional concept including (1) the experience of an often repeated noise-related disturbance and the behavioural response to it, (2) an emotional/attitudinal response to the sound and its disturbing impact, (3) the perception of control of the noise situation. MIAS consists of seven items including the 5-point ICBEN noise annoyance scale and the sub-dimensions 'noise disturbances' and 'lack of coping capacity', each consisting of three items. Its psychometric properties are investigated for aircraft, road, and railway noise annoyance. In this study, we analyse changes in values of the sub-dimensions of MIAS for aircraft noise annoyance before and after the opening of a new runway and the implementation of a night curfew in communities around Frankfurt Airport. Previous studies have shown evidence of a shift in exposure-response relationships for annoyance in situations of changes in noise exposure (change effect). With the assessment of MIAS and its components, it can be identified whether the change effect is more pronounced in the 'disturbance' component of annoyance or in the lack of capacity to cope with the (new) noise situation. This improves the understanding of annoyance in situations of changes in noise exposure.
Critical Assessment of Aviation Noise Communication Strategies in the European Union
2019
Growing awareness of the negative externalities of aviation has led to increasing objections to airport development, notably to expansion. This can be challenging for airport operators - particularly in regions where air traffic is growing rapidly, or where expansion is sought. In response, the air transport industry has gone to great lengths to reduce the impact of noise. However, these efforts are not always translated into reductions in noise annoyance. An EU Horizon 2020 funded research project, Aviation Noise Impact Management through Novel Approaches (ANIMA), looked to address this gap by developing new methodologies, approaches and tools to manage and mitigate the impact of aviation noise. Specifically, this paper reviews current practice in relation to airport communication and engagement activities in relation to noise. The paper reviews guidance provided by the aviation industry on public participation, finding that although the requirement for communication is made clear,...