This document discusses aircraft noise as an environmental issue in aviation. It defines noise and how it is measured, its effects on communication, concentration, health, and annoyance. It describes the sources of noise from aircraft operations and how noise events are assessed and aggregated, including concepts like sound exposure level, equivalent level, and day-night average level. It discusses factors that determine annoyance, like the Schultz curve relating noise levels to annoyance, and how other contextual factors also influence perceptions of annoyance. The document is part of a course on sustainability management in aviation that addresses aircraft noise and policy approaches to reducing it.

1. This course is prepared under the Erasmus+ KA-210-YOU Project titled
«Skilling Youth for the Next Generation Air Transport Management»
Sustainability
Management in Aviation
Environmental dimension – Aircraft noise – Part I
Prof. Dr. Frank Fichert
Worms University of Applied Sciences

2. Aircraft noise is probably the ‘oldest’ environmental problem in aviation.
This section of the course starts with definitions, aircraft noise sources
and options for reducing noise.
Then policy instruments will be analyzed (esp. technical standards/
command and control policy, and financial incentives)
Focus will be on noise caused by aircraft operations, other types of noise
will not be discussed (e.g. noise caused by ground service vehicles or by
aircraft engine testing as part of maintenance).
Aircraft noise – Part I 2
Overview

3. Noise is ‘unwanted/undesired sound’ – psychological concept
Sound pressure can be measured:
• Decibel (dB) as a relative and logarithmic measure
• A-weighting – accounting for relative loudness as perceived by
humans => dB(A)
• Other concepts/measures, esp.
EPNdB (Effective perceived noise in decibels) specific for
aircraft noise measurement
Aircraft noise – Part I 3
Noise definition

4. Noise affects ‘communication, concentration, recreation’
Annoyance (surveys, complaints)
Effects on health
• Immediate effects (esp. hearing loss)
• Long(er) term effects (e.g. higher blood pressure):
studies have to refer to ‘statistical correlation’
(Also effects on animals, incl. domestic/farm animals, possible)
Aircraft noise – Part I 4
Noise effects

5. Aircraft cause noise events:
Time of the event matters (esp. day vs. night)
Maximum noise level and duration
=> SEL (Sound exposure level) - total energy of an event
How to aggregate?
e.g. two events with x db(A) compared to one event with y db(A) (with y > x)
LAeq (Energy average equivalent level of the A-weighted sound)
LDN (Day-night average level, with ‘penalty’ for noise during night)
…
Aircraft noise – Part I 5
Assessing and aggregating noise

6. Schultz curve(s)
(Relation between noise level and annoyance)
However:
Many other factors might matter, e.g. other sources of noise,
changes in noise over time, attitude towards airport/aviation, …
Different Schultz curves for different airports and periods
Aircraft noise – Part I 6
What determines ‘annoyance’?

7. Please search for examples how airports, industry associations,
NGOs, researchers and/or governmental bodies provide
information about aircraft noise pollution and try to structure
them.
Sust material 03-01 presents some examples and one approach
for structuring the information.
Aircraft noise – Part I 7
Task
=> Please then continue with video/slides ‘Sust S/V 03-02’