Annoyance caused by the low-frequency sound produced by aircraft during takeoff

Abstract

In a laboratory study, the indoor annoyance caused by the sound produced by aircraft during the takeoff on the runway is investigated. This aircraft sound is dominated by relatively high sound levels in the 16 and 31.5 Hz octave bands. Road-traffic and passenger railway sounds, which lack high sound levels in these octave bands, are included as references. The sounds are presented at indoor A-weighted equivalent levels of 32 and 42 dB. The participants are males and females between 20 and 40, or between 40 and 60 years of age. The indoor annoyance increased with sound level, but it was not affected by source type. Moreover, it was not or hardly affected by gender or age. With the dose expressed as A-weighted outdoor levels, the penalty for the aircraft sound and the bonus for the passenger railway sound at least qualitatively correspond to those obtained in pertinent previous studies. In the present study, such adjustments can be avoided by including the difference between the outdoor C-weighted and A-weighted levels as a second predictor, yielding an explained variance in the mean indoor annoyance ratings as high as 98%.