Aesthetic, Affective, and Cognitive Effects of Noise on Natural Landscape Assessment

Research has shown that helicopter noise from tourist flights is very common in some national parks and wilderness areas . At Grand Canyon National Park , air craft noise has been found to be as high as 76 dB (A) with as many as 43 noise events in a 20-minute period . The present study examined the influence of 40 dB (A) or 80 dB (A) helicopter noise on assessment of a popular Grand Canyon vista in a laboratory simulation. Participants (44 female and 36 male undergraduates) viewed 68 slides of scenic vistas and assessed them on naturalness, preference, and scenic beauty and evaluated dimensions of freedom, annoyance, solitude, and tranquility. Compared to a control condition of background natural sounds (e.g.,birds, brooks), noise conditions negatively impacted all dependent measures. Although the effects were most pronounced at the 80-dB level, even the 40-dB helicopter noise negatively impacted all dependent variables. Results suggest that helicopter noise interferes with the quality of the visitor expe...