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As transportation network companies (TNC) such as Uber and Lyft drive a change in modern transport behaviours, fewer passengers pay for services such as parking or commercial vehicle drop-off at airports; meaning, what once was a primary revenue source for airports now has a tenuous future. Therefore, airports must find a way to counterbalance the revenue losses created by these changes. One such solution has been on the rise in the united kingdom. With airport drop-off and pick-up charges, private vehicles must pay for the convenience of loading or unloading passengers at the airport entrance. Not only does this practice have the potential to generate millions of dollars in annual revenue, but it also offers a remedy for other maladies, such as congestion and safety issues on airport roads. This paper examines the effects the drop-off and pick-up charges have had in the United Kingdom and explores what US airports might expect should they too adopt the practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the efforts that the aviation industry has undertaken during the last few decades, noise annoyance remains high, partly because of the continuous transport demands of modern societies and partly because of changes in citizen expectations and their growing environmental concerns. Although modern aircraft are considerably quieter than their predecessors, the number of complaints has not decreased as much as expected. Therefore, the aeronautical sector has tried more sociological and/or psychological strategies to gain acceptance through awareness and community engagement. In this regard, noise communication to the public is crucial for managers and policy makers. Noise information is a difficult technical topic for non-experts, which is an issue that must first be addressed to take advantage of the new possibilities that have recently been opened by the internet and information and communication technologies. In this review paper, we have compiled the literature that shows the increasing importance of communicating noise information from aircraft and the variety of indicators used to communicate with the public. We also examined the methods of representing noise data, using visualization strategies, and new tools airports are currently using to address this communication problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a simplified model [Rapid Aviation Noise Evaluator (RANE)] for the calculation of aviation noise within the context of multi-disciplinary strategic environmental assessment where input data are both limited and constrained by compatibility requirements against other disciplines. RANE relies upon the concept of noise cylinders around defined flight-tracks with the Noise Radius determined from publicly available Noise-Power-Distance curves rather than the computationally intensive multiple point-to-point grid calculation with subsequent ISO-contour interpolation methods adopted in the FAA's Integrated Noise Model (INM) and similar models. Preliminary results indicate that for simple single runway scenarios, changes in airport noise contour areas can be estimated with minimal uncertainty compared against grid-point calculation methods such as INM. In situations where such outputs are all that is required for preliminary strategic environmental assessment, there are considerable benefits in reduced input data and computation requirements. Further development of the noise-cylinder-based model (such as the incorporation of lateral attenuation, engine-installation-effects or horizontal track dispersion via the assumption of more complex noise surfaces formed around the flight-track) will allow for more complex assessment to be carried out. RANE is intended to be incorporated into technology evaluators for the noise impact assessment of novel aircraft concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social surveys have been the conventional means of evaluating the annoyance caused by transportation noise. Sampling and interviewing by telephone, mail, or in person are often costly and time consuming, however. Data collection by web-based survey methods are less costly and may be completed more quickly, and hence, could be conducted in countries with fewer resources. Such methods, however, raise issues about the generalizability and comparability of findings. These issues were investigated in a study of the annoyance of aircraft noise exposure around Brazil's Guarulhos Airport. The findings of 547 interviews obtained with the aid of Facebook advertisements and web-based forms were analysed with respect to estimated aircraft noise exposure levels at respondents' residences. The results were analysed to assess whether and how web-based surveys might yield generalizable noise dose-response relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the method to analyze the sensitivity of airport noise using computer simulation with the aid of Integrated Noise Model 7.0. The technique serves to support the selection of alternatives to better control aircraft noise, since it helps identify which areas of the noise curves experienced greater variation from changes in aircraft movements at a particular airport.

The issue of the value impairing impact of airports on nearby properties has been studied in the technical literature for decades. There is quite a wide consensus on the fact that in North America and Western Europe, the increasing noise pollution caused by airports leads to reduced property values: in general, each 1 dB growth in noise level leads to a 1% drop in property value. The purpose of this study is to find a correlation between noise levels and property value impairment (if any), based on the limited amount of available data, with regard to Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD). The examination described in this paper was conducted applying the commonly-used hedonic model, and, even though this study could not prove the correlation, it designates the direction in which necessary database-building and future research should be conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the reduction of airport noise that can be expected from an optimized LH2-fueled SST due to its shorter takeoff and landing performance compared to an equivalent kerosene-fueled SST. An initial comparison shows that flyover noise is reduced by 7.7EPNdB since the LH2-fueled SST has a steeper climb following a shorter takeoff roll. Although sideline and approach noises are increased, the total cumulative loudness is reduced by 6.5EPNdB. Then, the effect of reduced-thrust takeoff is evaluated for the LH2-fueled SST, which has a takeoff performance surplus. The result shows the sideline noise is reduced while flyover noise is increased. A parametric study is also conducted for further airport noise reduction potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is one of the most important instruments for making relevant decisions on the basis of which spatial planning is aligned with the tenets and principles of sustainable spatial development. Its primary application is in spatial (strategic) and urban planning, as well as in the planning and design of sectoral policies in the areas of energy, water management, waste management, transport, etc. The implementation of SEA allows developers to establish the benefits and implications of the proposed spatial changes, taking into account the capacity of the space to sustain the planned development, and to determine the degree of acceptability of the proposed spatial changes. This paper presents a specific method of assessing the impact of airport noise as part of a particular SEA. The particularity of this method is that it integrates the objectives, indicators and criteria for assessing the impact of airport noise on the population using the method of multi-criteria evaluation, applied in the preparation of the SEA for the Urban development plan regarding the expansion of Tivat Airport, Montenegro. The changes in noise intensity within the planning horizon to 2030 were predicted taking into account the following factors: physical, geographic and demographic characteristics of the space, the projected increase in the number and nature of the flights operated within the planning period, as well as the types of aircraft. On the basis of these data noise dispersion modelling was carried out using the IMMI model, and the results obtained were used in a multi-criteria evaluation as part of the SEA. The results of the research do not indicate any significant increase in noise intensity within the planning period to 2030 and they represent a good basis for making relevant decisions regarding the future development of Tivat Airport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand projections for civil aviation have forecast increases in operations in future decades. Increases in demand are beneficial to the growth and advancement of the aviation industry, but also come with the threat of significant increase in environmental impacts. In response, the industry is focusing on programs to develop technologies for reductions in fuel burn, NO x emissions, and noise. While aircraft-level impacts are an obvious metric of success, it is difficult to make informed robust technology investment decisions with respect to noise without understanding the fleet-level impacts. Fleet-level predictions of noise for technology explorations are especially complicated because it is computationally expensive, highly combinatorial, and airport-specific. Recently, rapid automated airport noise models have been developed, which can be simulated using Design of Experiments (DOE). The results of these simulations are used to generate surrogate models for airport noise contour area, which can be summed to yield a fleet-level impact. These models make use of simplifying assumptions to provide estimates of airport-level noise that are substantially cheaper to compute. They can be used to perform parametric trade-off analyses in conjunction with the equivalency assumption. Equivalency asserts that environmental impacts of a technology infused aircraft can be represented by scaled operations of the baseline aircraft in the same class. This simple assumption allows for the modeling of technology and market penetration factors under the same units: operations. This research uses surrogate models in conjunction with the equivalency assumption to examine two potential technology scenarios in a target forecast year, simulating technology and market performance factors to identify vehicle classes that could have the greatest impact in reducing contour area. Results show that technology and market performance of future notional Small Single Aisle and Large Single Aisle vehicle aircraft have the highest positive correlations with potential reductions in contour area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic noise is of increasing concern to biologists and medical scientists. Its detrimental effects on human health have been well studied, with the high noise levels from air traffic being of particular concern. However, less is known about the effects of airport noise pollution on signal masking in wild animals. Here, we report a relationship between aircraft noise and two major features of the singing behavior of birds. We found that five of ten songbird species began singing significantly earlier in the morning in the vicinity of a major European airport than their conspecifics at a quieter control site. As birds at both sites started singing before the onset of air traffic in the morning, this suggests that the birds in the vicinity of the airport advanced their activity to gain more time for unimpaired singing before the massive plane noise set in. In addition, we found that during the day, chaffinches avoided singing during airplane takeoffs, but only when the noise exceeded a certain threshold, further suggesting that the massive noise caused by the airport can impair acoustic communication in birds. Overall, our study indicates that birds may be adjusting their mating signals and time budgets in response to aircraft noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationships between noise exposure and transportation noise induced annoyance have been studied extensively for several decades. The annoyance due to aircraft noise exposure is in the present paper assumed to be influenced by the day-night yearly average sound level (DNL). It has long been recognized that the annoyance also depends on non-DNL factors, but this is complicated-- resulting in a variety of different modeling strategies. Motivated by this, the community tolerance level (CTL) was introduced in 2011 for a loudness-based psychometric function. It is a single parameter that accounts for the aggregate influence of other factors. This paper suggests and investigates different methods for the measurement of the CTL. The methods are illustrated on data found in the literature, on recent surveys around two Norwegian airports, and on simulated data. The results from the presented methods differ significantly. An elementary method is shown to give a measurement of the CTL with smaller uncertainty, and is recommended as a replacement for the originally suggested least-squares method. Methods for evaluating the measurement uncertainty are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU Environmental Noise Directive (END) requires member states to produce noise action plans for all major airports every five years. Using that data, this paper employs a directional distance function approach to estimate noise-oriented efficiency of 60 European airports between 2006 and 2011. Technical change is calculated using the Malmquist productivity index. The results indicate that European airports have improved their noise efficiency between 2006 and 2011, and some degree of convergence in noise performance across countries is seen. Larger aircraft size is linked to better noise performance. Inefficient airports would also benefit from more stringent night movement limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation noise is a main source of noise pollution. It is assumed that it consists of recognizable noise events which come from moving aircrafts, trains and boats. The noise of an isolated sound event is assessed by the sound exposure level, LAE. Much legislation and many regulations and guidelines employ the A-weighted time-average sound level, LAeq,T, with the time interval T of one hour or longer. LAE measurements enable an approximation of LAeq,T. The key point is the uncertainty of this approximation. It has been shown that an increase in the number of LAE categories brings about a decrease in uncertainty. For illustrative purposes, LAE measurements of aircrafts taking off and landing were carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the framework of the European Directive 2002/49/EC, the city of Herakleion in Crete Island (Greece) recently completed (2013) its Strategic Noise Map (SNM) and relevant Noise Action Plan (NAP). Strategic noise mapping and action plans are important tools to define the main strategies to reduce noise exposure of residents and introduce and preserve "quite zones". Within this framework and as a part of the Herakleion city Strategic Noise Mapping general a specific analysis was introduced in the urban area of Alikarnassos (east part of the city) adjacent to the International Airport “Nikos Kazantzakis”. The 2nd biggest airport in Greece, airport is proposed to be relocated in Kastelli area (some 37 km south of the Herakleion city centre, far away from dense populated areas), within the next decade but in the mean time, air traffic (take of, taxi and landing procedures, especially during the extended spring and summer period), are affecting the city. This paper analyzes the extended acoustic measurement monitoring program and the modelling of environmental noise levels within the city’s SNM introducing - state of the art - qualitative surveys on the sound perception and noise annoyance by the residents as well as in depth analysis of the urban and architectural tissue. All these results have been transcribed in several maps introducing a very comprehensive evaluation tool towards an efficient noise action plan leading to the eventual relocation of the airport. This paper presents the main results of this research aiming to the evaluation of the inffluence at the inhabitants’ sonic comfort from aircraft operation.

Regional airports are often located very close to the urban area they serve and the increasing traffic rate that many of them have experienced in the last years has produced several impacts on the communities living close to the airport area, mainly aviation noise. If not properly managed, noise impacts produced by airport operations can cut down significantly the development of airport air traffic with direct effects on the economic and territorial systems. Aeronautical noise has greatly reduced in the last decade, due to aircraft design technological improvements and more severe regulations. However, the noise reduction during a single event does not make the issue of the airport location – and then the whole noise impact – less significant. This paper proposes an assessment process to evaluate the effects of actions adopted to reduce airport noise impacts on populated areas. Both airport-related factors – such as number of take-off; day-evening-night distributions of movements; aircraft type; flying paths – and land-use characteristics have been considered and combined in a density index that synthesizes the impacts of airport noise on the territory. The assessment process has been tested on a real case, the airport of Bologna in Northern Italy. The predicted results, compared with available real data for the test case, are significant and encourage the use of the proposed assessment process as decision support system for the airport management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines linear and non-linear airport noise effects in the airport region of Düsseldorf, Germany and extends existing findings with regard to threshold values of airport noise effects. By applying spatial hedonic regression we estimate a linear NDSI value of 1.0. However, rent devaluations due to airport noise exposure appear to be non-linear. Furthermore we discover statistically significant adverse effects of airport noise exposure in a 500-meter-wide zone extending the standard noise footprint defined by a cut-off value of 55 dB(A) Lden. Airport noise impacts are consequentially underestimated when calculated on the basis of the standard cut-off value defined in Directive 2002/49/EC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of airport noise pollution mainly depends on the correlation between aircraft class, noise measured and flight path geometry. Regulation, evaluation and especially certification procedures generally establish that previous correlation cannot be carried out using aircraft navigation systems data. Additionally, airport noise monitoring systems generally use aircraft noise signals only for computing statistical indicators. Consequently, methods to acquire more information from these signals have been explored so as to improve noise estimation around airports. In this regard, this paper introduces a new model for aircraft class recognition based on take-off noise signal segmentation and dynamic hierarchical aggregation of K parallel neural networks outputs O p k . A single hierarchy is separately defined for every class p , mainly based on the recall and precision of neural network NN k | k =1,2,…, K . Similarly, the dynamics proposed is also particular to each class p . The performance of the new model is benchmarked against models in literature over a database containing real-world take-off noise measurements. The new model performs better on the abovementioned database and successfully classifies over 89% of measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a method and software application of automatic identification of aircraft noise sources in the long-term environment acoustic monitoring systems. The said method relies on automatic "meaning" of sounds recorded by the one measuring microphone (part of a monitoring station) and refer to the advanced pattern recognition technique based on the human auditory perceptions by using mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) of signals. The algorithm was developed in MATLAB language and implemented in National Instrument LabVIEW Environment as Aircraft Noise Events Detector (ANED) application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aircraft noise is one of the hardest thing to control, because of its wide-range effects, and it needs a great deal of funding for preventing like removal airport or land purchasing. As volume of air traffic grows, the noise level around airport increases as well. The priority of aircraft noise prevention needs to be based on assessment in exposed population. There are many method for decreasing aircraft noise in flight operational part. In this study, the various method of fight operation during take off and landing will be discussed in order to decrease the aircraft noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper gives an overview of international, national and local legislations and policies related to noise monitoring at airports via recommended criteria for measuring of noise levels generated during aircraft operations. The proposed classification of the criteria taking into accounts their characteristics and recommendations for application are described. Analysis of noise monitoring and mitigation strategies that have been identified as "best practice" is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The air transport industry is showing rapid growth in line with the call for meeting the requirements of a rising population. Noise mapping is more useful than surveys and measurements to estimate the effects of noise on public health. In this paper, noise levels for the day, evening and night time slices around İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport were calculated by use of the SoundPLAN 7.2 software according to the European Noise Directive, and the “ECAC Doc. 29-Interim” method was applied for the computation of the aircraft noise. Air traffic data of year 2012, technical information about the airport and geographical data including the layers of elevation, residential buildings, auxiliary buildings, hospitals and schools were used as the main inputs for the model developed in the study. The model was found to perform well for the areas closer to the airport. The results of the study suggested that the area at the north side of the airport, where the city center of İzmir is located, is more affected than other areas. The threshold value of 55 dB(A) was found to be exceeded in 0.3% of the land area covered by İzmir City center during the time slice “day”. The results showed that about 2% of the resident population was exposed to noise levels of 55 dB(A) or higher during day-time in İzmir. In addition, it was understood that the number of people who are potentially exposed to high noise levels and threatened by several illness such as hypertension and sleep disturbances is significant in the surrounding area of the airport. It is thought to be important for airport operators to manage the airport capacity based on the flight schedules in order to control the noise exposure level around the airport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future air transportation demand forecasts suggest that environmental concerns such as noise will be exacerbated beyond their current level. Although detailed airport noise modeling with tools such as the integrated noise model and the Federal Aviation Administration's Aviation Environmental Design Tool are available, these software require relatively long setup and run times due to the number of inputs available to the user and the general fidelity level of the models. A rapid, flexible, and more simplified method that reduces the input variables to a critical few and can provide results in minutes is desired to evaluate fleet-level metrics with respect to new technologies or forecasted changes in demand. Current lower-fidelity methods only calculate a change in contour area due to changes within the overall fleet composition. These methods cannot account for the shape of the contour. This paper presents a rapid airport noise computation model that leverages the fidelity of detailed models. By performing generic aircraft operations upfront, events can be rapidly recombined later to perform trades of various noise mitigating strategies. By moving the detailed noise modeling "offline" through simplifying assumptions, the fidelity of detailed models can be channeled upstream in the decision-making process. The increased speed of the model enables multiple fleet-level analyses. Verification and validation results show agreement benchmarked against integrated noise model equivalents when model assumptions are obeyed. Comparison to detailed integrated noise model equivalents when model assumptions are violated introduces certain errors, but the model retains contour area accuracy, through the basic capture of contour shape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a non-homogeneous Poisson model is considered to study the behaviour of airport noise levels. The model is used to count the number of times that the noise level exceeds a given threshold in a time interval of interest. The rate function of the Poisson process is assumed to be of a Weibull type. Two threshold values are considered. One of them, make it evident the change in the data’s behaviour. Hence, it requires the use of a model with a change-point. The models considered depend on some parameters that need to be estimated. After the estimation of the parameters are made, a way of obtaining the probability that the noise threshold is exceeded a certain number of times in a given time interval is presented. Results related to the mean number of exceedances of the threshold are also provided. Those results can be very useful in the study of the population’s exposure to noise produced by air traffic and other types of noise related to the airport operation. The model is also useful to predict, given the current behaviour of the data, the probability of occurrence of high levels of noise in a near future. An application to the airport noise data from Nice International Airport is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is part of a FP7 project supported by the European Commission called “Community oriented solutions to minimize aircraft noise annoyance” (COSMA). The present paper focuses on the development and the application of a methodology for the assessment of changes in airport noise exposure in home-like environments, particularly the design of sound scenarios and of experiments. Two airport noise changes are assessed and compared to a reference scenario: a halving of the number of aircraft, and an improvement in aircraft sound quality. For that purpose, sound perception, annoyance and activity disturbance as well as performances to cognitive tasks (Stroop and Word list Memory) are considered in the experiments involving 142 participants in 3 laboratories. Despite a similar L Aeq , overall annoyance significantly decreases when reducing the number of aircraft, which reinforces the interest in a noise event index (NNE-NA) in addition to energetic noise indices for regulatory purposes. Results to a change in aircraft sound quality are largely inconclusive. Further work should address the human response to future airport noise scenarios based on new aircraft designs, including innovative concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel and effective speech enhancement method is proposed for suppressing the white noise as well as non‐stationary acoustic noises. The proposed method employs the combination of variational mode decomposition (VMD) and empirical mode decomposition (EMD) methods. In this method, first EMD is used to decompose the noisy speech signal into intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). Further, the VMD is applied on summation of selected IMFs. The main contribution of the proposed method is the selection of IMFs based on Hurst exponent and further applying steps of VMD method. The proposed modified EMD‐VMD (mEMD‐VMD) method is suitable to reduce the low‐frequency noise as well as high‐frequency noise. The proposed method gives the better results in terms of speech quality and composite measures. The proposed study is performed on eight speech signals under additive white Gaussian noise, street noise, babble noise, and airport noise taken from NOIZEUS database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of the atmosphere on sound propagation can impact the perceived noise on the ground significantly and therefore needs to be accounted for in aircraft noise modelling. However, to be practical, propagation modelling cannot impose a limitation on calculation time. The aim is therefore to design a robust and computationally lean atmospheric propagation model for the prediction of aircraft noise. Foreseen applications are the evaluation of en-route noise, noise optimisation studies and the evaluation of noise in airport scenarios.To achieve a computationally low demanding algorithm an analytical approach is pursued. When the wave front orientation is approximated to be perpendicular to the ray path, it follows from the Eikonal equation that a ray obeys to an adapted form of Snell's law. If the atmosphere is then discretized in layers of linearly varying sound speed and wind velocity, it allows the ray path and ray properties to be expressed analytically within a layer. Cross-validation against two independently developed ray tracing routines has shown the validity of the selected modelling approach.In conclusion, a robust and computationally low demanding method has been developed for atmospheric sound propagation that can be incorporated in aircraft noise modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We evaluated the role of messaging on acceptability of military aircraft sounds. [•] We discuss the role of theory, communication strategies and visitor management. [•] Messaging increased visitor acceptability of aircraft sounds by as much as 15%. [•] Messaging concerning military aircraft in Sequoia may improve visitor experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents an experimental work on active control of sound transmission through a restricted opening bottom hinged window. The main goal of the work is to demonstrate the feasibility of the active technique to limit the loss of attenuation due to the aperture of windows, and its application to aircraft fly-over incident noise. The experimental window is placed in an exposed façade of a dwelling close to an airport and subject to fly-by aircraft noise. The active control is configured to cancel the pressure at the aperture using a single-input single-output feedforward adaptive system. As a result, a reduction of sound transmission is achieved with low power consumption. In global terms, an increase of almost 3dB of transmission loss (with respect to the partially opened window insulation values) in the low frequency range (below 160Hz and according to the National Danish Method for evaluating low frequency noise) is demonstrated, which is equivalent to a reduction of 50% in the loss of insulation caused by opening the window. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Airport noise insulation programmes (NIPs) implement active measures for reducing the amount of noise to which people are exposed without impacting the operating capacity of an airport. This is the reason why they are one of the most extended actions adopted internationally by airport authorities to fight noise in airport surroundings. Beyond the assumption that a correct implementation of the NIP will significantly reduce sound exposure, this research aims to determine the efficacy of the NIP as a result of the beneficiaries’ subjective perception in terms of satisfaction, and the reduction of the reported annoyance. A telephone survey was carried out in more than 650 dwellings in the surroundings of several Spanish Airports (Alicante, Bilbao, Grand Canary, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca). The results have shown that: (a) the beneficiaries have a generally positive perception regarding the actions implemented, (b) they are quite satisfied regarding the insulation of the façades after NIP implementation, (c) they report a reduction of the annoyance, but (d) they still perceive aircraft noise as a source of disturbance. The statistical analysis of the results has also shown that there are some non-acoustic factors influencing citizens’ perception of NIPs. Factors such as the aesthetic of windows, or the reliability and professionalism of the workers and technicians involved in the NIP, have been shown to modify people’s reaction. But, the dissatisfaction with legal aspects of Spanish regulations concerning a lower protection of some practical spaces (like, bathrooms and kitchens that have been left out in many cases) has been found to be the factor most affecting people’s response. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]