National Academies Press: OpenBook

Effects of Aircraft Noise: Research Update on Select Topics (2008)

Chapter: Chapter Seven - Effects of Aviation Noise on Parks, Open Space, and Wilderness Areas

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Suggested Citation:"Chapter Seven - Effects of Aviation Noise on Parks, Open Space, and Wilderness Areas." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2008. Effects of Aircraft Noise: Research Update on Select Topics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14177.
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Page 15
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter Seven - Effects of Aviation Noise on Parks, Open Space, and Wilderness Areas." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2008. Effects of Aircraft Noise: Research Update on Select Topics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14177.
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Page 16

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In considering the effects of aviation noise on parks in relation to both animals and humans, there have been new and interest- ing issues not previously considered, particularly concerning restoring and/or maintaining natural quiet in U.S. national parks and Native American tribal lands. Given the often extremely low ambient noise of the parks, aviation noise from high-altitude aircraft passby or lower-altitude tour operations can be heard for miles. Trying to define the natural soundscape can often be as challenging as defining the noise intrusion and potential effects. NATIONAL PARKS AND NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBAL LANDS The study of aviation noise effects on national parks and Native American tribal lands began in 1985. Because this is a completely new research area, a brief history of its develop- ment and oversight responsibilities is warranted. With the passage of the National Parks Overflight Act of 1987, the FAA and the National Park Service were tasked to join forces and begin the process of restoring natural quiet to the nation’s parks. In 2000, the National Parks Air Tour Management Act required commercial tour operators to develop air tour man- agement plans (ATMP) and obtain FAA approval to conduct operations over parks or tribal lands. Any ATMP for a national park may prohibit commercial air tour operations, and may es- tablish conditions or restrictions of operations, including noise restrictions, visual restrictions, or other impacts. The National Parks Air Tour Management Act does not provide specific noise limits to be considered as part of the ATMP. Addition- ally, the National Park Service’s “Soundscape Preservation and Noise Management” Director’s Order #47 that expired in 2000 articulated National Park Service operational policies that required, to the fullest extent practicable, the protection, maintenance, or restoration of the natural soundscape resource in a condition unimpaired by inappropriate or excessive noise sources (“Soundscape Preservation and Noise Management” 2000–2004). In this Order, an outline of the park director’s responsibilities included natural soundscape preservation as part of the operating policies of the park. The Order provided a broad structure for consideration of soundscape preservation in the park facilities planning process, but it did not address specific noise level goals or specific programs. In 2005, the FAA published a report that summarizes the findings of all known aircraft noise (dose) and visitor annoyance 16 (response) data previously collected in the national parks (Rapoza et al. 2005). The accumulated data consist of almost 2,500 visitor interviews and simultaneous acoustical measure- ments collected at four different national parks between 1992 and 1999, including two major FAA dose-response measure- ment programs in 1997 (short-hike) and 1998 (overlook). The dose-response data obtained from these studies can be used to determine the relationships between aircraft noise and visitor response for purposes of assessing aircraft noise in the national parks. Important results from that 2005 report included the finding that the vast majority of visitors’ (92% to 94%) rate annoyance is equal to or higher than interference with enjoyment. Visitors appear to be less sensitive to high- altitude jet overflight noise as compared with noise from tour aircraft. However, the data do not show this with statistical certainty and no definitive conclusions can be drawn. Visitor response to tour overflight noise differs between overlooks and short hikes. In addition, it appears that a respondent’s familiarity with the site can influence visitor response to air- craft noise; that is, repeat visitors generally are more annoyed. Some of the most provocative new research is by Horon- jeff (2005) who provides a good summary background of the efforts to define methods to quantify the natural soundscape of the wilderness park environment. The author defines the soundscape in terms of duration of quiet time and time a visitor has to wait until he or she experiences quiet times of certain durations. In terms of defining periods of natural quiet for purposes of analyzing transportation projects near parks, the author concludes that the use of computer models is the only efficient means by which noise effects may be evaluated over large areas. URBAN PARKS Very little recent research has been completed that discusses noise in urban parks; however, it does indicate that noise is an important urban park characteristic, but not as important as other criteria, such as safety and cleanliness. Results from noise surveys and laboratory listening tests showed that the subject’s expectation to hear a sound in a specific environ- ment influences the corresponding annoyance. Furthermore, the acceptability of the non-natural sound increases with decreasing levels and detectability. These findings are significant as they point out that loudness of a noise source is CHAPTER SEVEN EFFECTS OF AVIATION NOISE ON PARKS, OPEN SPACE, AND WILDERNESS AREAS

17 not the most important aspect of its acceptance. Natural sounds expected in a park setting are deemed acceptable no matter what their sound level, although unexpected sounds such as aircraft and road noise are judged as annoying. Another evaluation of noise pollution in urban parks was conducted in Brazil (Zannin et al. 2006). Measured noise levels were compared with locally permitted levels, and were classified as “acoustically polluted or unpolluted.” Measured values were also evaluated according to international legisla- tion from Rome, Germany, WHO, and the U.S. EPA. Noise levels in the test parks do not satisfy any of the standards used. The study provides a useful comparison of various in- ternational noise limits that may be applied to parks.

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TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Synthesis 9: Effects of Aircraft Noise: Research Update on Select Topics includes an annotated bibliography and summary of new research on the effects of aircraft noise. The report is designed to update and complement the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s 1985 Aviation Noise Effects report.

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