Determinants for aircraft noise annoyance—A comparison between French and Scandinavian data

Data on aircraft annoyance from a French study of 1965–1966 have been re-evaluated in the light of findings from a recent Scandinavian study. Comparison of the results of the two studies provides further confirmation of the conclusions reached as a result of the Scandinavian studies. Broadly stated, these conclusions are (i) that the number of overflights does not appear to influence annoyance in the manner implied by current “total energy” noise exposure indices but instead simply serves to categorize an area as a “high exposure” or “low exposure” area and (ii) for an area of a given type (high or low exposure) the determinant of the annoyance is primarily the noise level of a single, representative overflight. The implication of these results is clearly that reduction of noise of individual aircraft is of primary importance in reducing annoyance. Tests aimed at further verification of the validity of these results are in progress.