Combining a theoretical approach and practical considerations for establishing aircraft noise charge schemes

This research has developed a systematic aircraft noise charge scheme, based on noise social costs, with a view to its application in Taiwan. The paper starts with a brief review of current structures and applications of noise charges, a market-based measure, in mitigating aircraft noise worldwide. The evaluation of aircraft noise social cost is an attempt at putting noise nuisance into monetary terms. The total and average noise social cost per flight at one airport is clearly different from another, depending mainly on the size of the noise contour and the number of residents affected. This research estimates the average noise social costs at various airports, using nine Taiwanese airports as case studies. Depending on the marginal impact of a flight and the mixture of aircraft types at each airport, the noise social cost per landing and take-off is then estimated for different aircraft types. The results of this study can inform airport, airline and local administration policies for taking environmental concerns into account when setting up noise charges, revising noise insulation schemes, and developing strategies for airport expansion and airline operations.     

考虑噪声烦恼度的机场飞机噪声收费模型和应用研究

随着我国民航运输业的飞速发展,机场噪声影响问题日趋严重。通过向航空公司或旅客收取噪声费来进行治理,是民航发达国家的普遍做法,也是我国未来的发展方向。该文在国外机场飞机噪声收费模型的基础上,提出了基于飞机噪声特性、噪声烦恼度、噪声治理投入费用和资金回收周期等因素的机场噪声收费模型。模型将机场噪声治理费用通过合理的回收周期按一定比例分配到各年度,再根据飞机噪声特性、噪声烦恼度将每年噪声收费分配到每架次飞机(或每位旅客)。飞机噪声特性根据ACI的机场噪声分级R1～R8来确定,噪声烦恼度借助Mamdani模型构建。应用表明,该收费模型关键因素考虑全面,计算方法先进简洁,费率合理。对于噪声较高飞机,夜间起飞收费为1219.06元/架次,客均收费10.16元;对于噪声很低的飞机,昼间着陆收费为66.10元/架次,客均收费仅0.15元。费率确定符合国际民航组织倡导的以支定收原则,有助于形成航空公司/旅客减噪激励机制同时又不致抑制机场航空业务增长。     

Trends in aircraft noise annoyance: the role of study and sample characteristics

Recently, it has been suggested that the annoyance of residents at a given aircraft noise exposure level increases over the years. The objective of the present study was to verify the hypothesized trend and to identify its possible causes. To this end, the large database used to establish earlier exposure-response relationships on aircraft noise was updated with original data from several recent surveys, yielding a database with data from 34 separate airports. Multilevel grouped regression was used to determine the annoyance response per airport, after which meta-regression was used to investigate whether study characteristics could explain the heterogeneity in annoyance response between airports. A significant increase over the years was observed in annoyance at a given level of aircraft noise exposure. Furthermore, the type of annoyance scale, the type of contact, and the response percentage were found to be sources of heterogeneity. Of these, only the scale factor could statistically account for the trend, although other findings rule it out as a satisfactory explanation. No evidence was found for increased self-reported noise sensitivity. The results are of importance to the applicability of current exposure-annoyance relationships for aircraft noise and provide a basis for decisions on whether these need to be updated.     

Noise mitigation action plan of Pisa civil and military airport and its effects on people exposure

The “Galileo Galilei” airport is a civil and military airport quite close to central Pisa. Although the airport brings benefits in terms of tourism and different types of income, the air traffic growth exacerbates the exposition to aircraft noise. This could significantly affect public health. To this day, a small number of studies takes into account the standard indicators of Europe by considering noise emission data for military aircrafts. We estimated the noise impact produced by the airport and we evaluated the related exposed population by using the Integrated Noise Model (INM). The noise power levels of both commercial and military flights have been considered as an input to the model. Predicted levels were validated by means of a noise-monitoring network. A new tracking system (AirNav Radar) that captures Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals emitted by each aircraft has been used to emulate takeoff and landing procedures. This improves the accuracy of the input to the model. We simulated noise maps for present and future scenarios, including those following the application of noise reduction measures. For each situation, we also estimated the exposure of the population and the percentages of highly annoyed and highly sleep disturbed people. We show the utility of AIS data and their specific elaboration to draw up noise abatement measures in order to reduce the noise impact on population and allow the airport development.     

Noise abatement measures at airports: Contributing factors and mutual dependence

Airports are known to cause noise-related environmental concerns, mostly because significant environmental impact correlated with operation of airports arises from aircraft generated noise. In order to address this concern, many airports have applied a variety of actions that alleviate negative effects of noise i.e. noise abatement measures (NAMs). Although there are similarities between airports applying some of the NAMs, numbers and types of applied measures are quite different among them. This paper focuses on finding statistical evidence to support the hypothesis that there is a significant correlation between applied NAMs and specific characteristics related to airports. To determine the reasons why airports apply NAMs, a logistic regression method was used on the data set for 246 European airports. As predictor variables, five specific characteristics related to airports (number of runways, number of aircraft movements, distance from the city, population of the city it serves, per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of the country an airport is located in), and ten NAMs based on their mutual dependencies were used. The results demonstrate a significant correlation between the applied NAMs and particular airport-related characteristics, but also between NAMs themselves. These findings can be used to determine the likelihood of applying a particular NAM to any airport, based on the characteristics that show a significant correlation with the corresponding NAM.     

某军用机场飞机噪声暴露的模化研究

针对军用机场飞机飞行训练方式复杂多变,飞机噪声影响存在范围大、不均匀及单次事件噪声突出的特点,本文结合某军用机场实地调研测试资料,综合考察了现行评价指标对该机场飞机噪声暴露的模化效果,指出了现行指标在反映军用飞机瞬时噪声和高峰时段噪声对人的冲击影响方面的不足,提出了相应的改进措施建议,给出了高峰时段LWECPN和最大A声级LAmax两个改进指标,并分析确立了各评价指标的标准限值。最后结合调研机场的数据资料对评价指标的有效性进行了验证。论文的研究成果对军用机场飞机噪声暴露的拓展研究和通用评价指标体系的构建具有很好的参考作用。     

DISTRIBUTION OF BLOOD PRESSURE DATA FROM PEOPLE LIVING NEAR AN AIRPORT

We observed blood pressure in general health examination data around a city airport and compared the data with those from a calm suburban area of the city. Information was also collected on the short-term history of medication and lifestyle including smoking, drinking and eating salty foods. This cross-sectional study on 469 women showed that systolic and diastolic blood pressure was not associated with aircraft noise levels in the area, even after controlling for variables regarding anti-hypertension treatment and lifestyle factors. A comparative study on 469 women from an area around an airport and 1177 women from a suburban control area showed no significant differences between blood pressure and other medical tests controlling for the variables of medication and lifestyle. Changes in blood pressure after 8 years were observed in 183 women around the airport. No significant differences among three zones with different levels of aircraft noise were found.     

Responses of teachers to aircraft noise

Acoustic measurements of aircraft noise in 139 schools in Hong Kong have been carried out. The schools are located under and very near the flight-paths of aircraft coming in and leaving the international airport, Kai Tak. Coupled with the acoustic measurements, measurements of the subjective responses to this aircraft noise of 2100 Chinese teachers in these schools have been made. It is found that the subjective responses of the teachers correlate well with the Noise and Number Index. Besides the effect of annoyance, it is further found that the more serious effect of aircraft noise is the disruption of verbal communication, resulting in speech and teaching interference during lessons.     

Effect of flight path dispersion on airport noise

The social impact of aircraft noise is usually assessed by way of estimates of the “energy sum” of noise delivered to points on the ground. Though in such estimates one commonly supposes that the noise generating aircraft fly along specific trajectories, it has been shown that statistical dispersion about the mean flight path can be significant. The literature suggests that the effect is dominated by lateral excursions due to fluctuations in heading during departure.In this paper an additive term is presented to correct “energy sum” based noise indices for lateral flight path dispersion. Gaussian distribution of flight paths and logarithmic decay of noise level are assumed in the mathematical model. Under these conditions, the correction term depends only on the horizontal and vertical distances between the observer and the closest point on the mean flight path, both distances being normalized by the standard deviation of the lateral fluctuations.The limited data that have been reported indicate that the standard deviation tends to grow linearly with distance after liftoff. If so, the correction for a given aircraft category will tend to be constant along lines radiating outward from the lift-off point. Lateral dispersion always reduces the noise index along the ground track. This reduction decreases to either side, vanishing at some 3 to 6 degrees azimuth. For larger azimuth angles, dispersion increases noise energy-the maximum occurring at some 10 degrees. In typical airport situations this maximum increase may be as great as four decibels. Accordingly, as these results represent a lower bound for them, dispersive effects may significantly influence airport exposure.A numerical example illustrates how lateral flight path dispersion broadens and foreshortens contours of equal noise exposure.     

An acceptable exposure level for aircraft noise in residential communities

A review of existing guidelines and noise laws relating to aircraft indicated that they were governed, not by the acceptability of the aircraft noise to an exposed community, but by economic considerations. To examine the impact on aircraft noise requirements of a change in emphasis, from vehicle economy to noise acceptability, existing literature was used to estimate the maximum noise exposure from aircraft that a community would probably find acceptable. The suggested limit is 90 ± 5 PNdB for twenty noise events per day. Ideally, this noise level should fall within the airport boundary or on non-residential land.     

Subjective responses of Chinese to aircraft noise

A social study was undertaken of the subjective responses to aircraft noise of 909 Chinese in Hong Kong. The study population lives near, or adjacent to, the flight-paths of aircraft landing at, or taking off from, the international airport of Kai Tak. The subjective responses of the Chinese correlate well with the Noise and Number Index. Comparisons of the responses of the Chinese group with those of teachers and firemen in the city and with Londoners have been attempted.     

Annoyance with aircraft noise in local recreational areas and the recreationists' noise situation at home

Few socioacoustic studies have examined the effect of noise on outdoor recreationists. Most studies concentrate on one setting of the everyday life of a noise-exposed population, which mainly has been the residential setting. This article relates annoyance with aircraft noise in outdoor recreational areas to the recreationists' noise situation at home. In conjunction with the relocation of the main airport of Norway in 1998, field studies were conducted before and after the change in one area near the old airport (1930 survey respondents), and one area near the new airport (1001 survey respondents). Multivariate linear regression analyses of the relationship between annoyance and aircraft noise exposure (LAeq for the aircraft events) in the recreational areas were conducted, controlled for noise annoyance at home, or aircraft noise exposure at home, the situation (before/ after the change), context- and demographic variables. People more highly annoyed at home tended to be more annoyed than others while in the recreational areas. A significant effect of aircraft noise exposure at home on annoyance in the recreational setting was not found. More research is warranted regarding the relationship between noise exposure at home and outdoor recreational demands.     

Aircraft noise annoyance estimation: UK time-pattern effects

An improvement appears to be possible in estimating UK aircraft noise annoyance. This is based on a more detailed analysis and modelling of the data supporting the present UK aircraft noise policies. There is empirical evidence that people’s real-life annoyance at aircraft noise is in part determined by its time-patterns. People benefit from Heathrow’s regular and predictable alternation cycles on westerly operations, equivalent to an effective dB(A) Leq value for that operational mode some 2-dB less than the measured dB(A) Leq. This correction is statistically controlled for people whose work/business is connected with Heathrow. The implications of a time-pattern correction would be significant for UK airport noise contours.     

Interactive simulation of aircraft noise in aural and visual virtual environments

This paper describes a novel aircraft noise simulation technique developed at RWTH Aachen University, which makes use of aircraft noise auralization and 3D visualization to make aircraft noise both heard and seen in immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environments. This technique is intended to be used to increase the residents’ acceptance of aircraft noise by presenting noise changes in a more directly relatable form, and also aid in understanding what contributes to the residents’ subjective annoyance via psychoacoustic surveys. This paper describes the technique as well as some of its initial applications. The reasoning behind the development of such a technique is that the issue of aircraft noise experienced by residents in airport vicinities is one of subjective annoyance. Any efforts at noise abatement have been conventionally presented to residents in terms of noise level reductions in conventional metrics such as A-weighted level or equivalent sound level L_eq. This conventional approach however proves insufficient in increasing aircraft noise acceptance due to two main reasons – firstly, the residents have only a rudimentary understanding of changes in decibel and secondly, the conventional metrics do not fully capture what the residents actually find annoying i.e. characteristics of aircraft noise they find least acceptable. In order to allow least resistance to air-traffic expansion, the acceptance of aircraft noise has to be increased, for which such a new approach to noise assessment is required.     

A standardised test environment to compare aircraft noise calculation programs

A new standardised test environment for aircraft noise calculation programs is presented. By means of this test environment different programs for aircraft noise calculation can be compared systematically. For this purpose a complete data set was developed, containing all relevant information needed to perform unambiguous aircraft noise calculations in the vicinity of an artificial airport. The input data is provided in a generic, non-program-specific form in order to be applicable to programs based on different calculation methods and data structures. In addition to the input data, guidelines on the file format of the results of calculations performed with different programs are specified to facilitate direct comparisons. The test environment and its data structure are outlined and examples of calculations according to this scheme are presented.     

Aircraft noise: accounting for changes in air traffic with time of day

Aircraft noise contours are estimated using model calculations and, due to their impact on land use planning, they need to be highly accurate. During night time, not only the number and dominant types of aircraft may differ from daytime but also the flight paths flown may differ. To determine to which detail these variations in flight paths need to be considered, calculations were performed exemplarily for two airports using all available radar data over 1 year, taking into account their changes over the day. The results of this approach were compared with results of a simpler approach which does not consider such changes. While both calculations yielded similar results for the day and close to the airport, differences increased with distance as well as with the period of day (day相似文献   

A new indicator to measure the noise impact around airports: The Real Estate Tolerance Level (RETL) – Case study around Charles de Gaulle Airport

The Community Tolerance Level (CTL) is a new indicator which characterizes the impact of aircraft noise around local airport. It corresponds to the exposure sound level (DENL or DNL) where 50% of the population is highly annoyed. Inspired by this indicator, this paper aims at calculating the Real Estate Tolerance Level (RETL) which corresponds to the exposure sound level where a property price is 50% depreciated compared to the price of the same property which would be situated in an area whose DENL is below 50 dB(A). The use of a notarial database analyzed with the Hedonic Price Model (HPM) made it possible to calculate the percentage of property price depreciation around CDG airport, with 1-dB steps of DENL, and so far to calculate the RETL. 19,891 house transactions and 23,264 apartments have been localized with a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and crossed with the Sound Environment Curves provided by Airport of Paris. The RETL value for single houses and for apartments around CDG is 75.8 dB. It is comparable to the mean CTL value which has been estimated to 73.3 dB from the DNL data of 43 airports over the world (about 73.9 dB from DENL data). The RETL is predictable without field survey and could characterize the impact of aircraft noise around local airports. It could be a good indicator to follow the evolution of population tolerance over the years.     

The fifteenth Sir Richard Fairey memorial lecture: The quieter airport

Aircraft noise as a social problem arrived less than a quarter of a century ago with the jets and has been a significant factor in airport planning and the development of air transport ever since. This paper explains how the industry has responded, with the introduction of operating techniques, and how Governments have introduced controls, both designed to mitigate the effects of aircraft noise as far as possible, for people living near major airports. It shows that considerable success has been achieved and expresses the belief that as a result the worst is passed. The author also demonstrates that there are two sides to airport operations, noise nuisance, the main effects of which are confined to a relatively small area around the airport, is more than balanced by the economic benefits deriving from its operation. These are enjoyed within the immediate environs of the airport and spread widely to the region in which it is located and ultimately to the nation as a whole.     

Spatial patterns in community response to aircraft noise associated with non-noise factors

Non-noise aspects of airport operations may affect individuals' responses to aircraft noise. Fear of crashes, other forms of pollution, and proximity to the flight path are three such non-noise aspects which have spatial patterns that are closely related to the pattern of noise contours around an airport. If these variables affect response to aircraft noise, they may therefore confound attempts to understand relationships between noise level and community response. Analyses based on data from 673 individuals around Toronto International Airport suggest that these factors do affect annoyance responses, but do not affect reported activity interference. Hence it may prove fruitful, in aggregate analyses of community response data, to control for these variables in order to better understand the noise-annoyance relationships.