Variation of aircraft noise annoyance

Abstract

Laboratory and field studies were conducted to determine the basis for increased sensitivity of people to noise during aircraft noise studies. This change in sensitivity could be attributed to either a physiological time-of-day effect (i.e., a circadian rhythm) or simply to the total number of aircraft noise events experienced during a laboratory test period. In order to investigate the time-of-day factor, noise sensitivity measures were obtained from subjects at home with cassette tape recorders/headsets over a 24 hour period. The effect of number of aircraft noise events on noise sensitivity was investigated within a laboratory. In these tests, measures of sensitivity to noise were obtained from subjects before and after their exposure to varying numbers of aircraft noise events. The 24 hour data showed no evidence that noise sensitivity is physiologically cyclical. Consequently, these data can not explain annoyance response variation to aircraft noise tests conducted during the daytime. However, the number of aircraft noise events did influence the subject's noise sensitivity. This effect completely accounts for the systematic increase in noise sensitivity during a laboratory test period