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Finally, the study showed that the effect of noise was greater for non-disadvantaged students than for disadvantaged students, although the analysis process does not make it possible to provide a rationale for this result. This issue may be addressed in the upcoming ACRP Project 02-47 Assessing Aircraft Noise Conditions Affecting Student Learning - Case Studies v
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION Airports continue to face serious environmental challenges that impede their capacity to meet forecast growth in air travel, aircraft noise being the principal impediment to system and airport expansion. Over the years, much has changed in the understanding of this complex issue. Increased air travel, new and quieter aircraft, increased awareness of land use planning and aviation noise, and mitigation of previously incompatible land uses are just a few of these changes. Knowledge of the effects of aviation noise has also changed. The greatest increases in knowledge have come in the areas of health effects, annoyance, sleep disturbance, and the potential effects on learning abilities in schools, which is the subject of this research project. In 2008, TRB published ACRP Synthesis 9: Effects of Aircraft Noise: Research Update on Selected Topics which was designed to inform airport operators, stakeholders, and policy makers of updated information about aviation noise effects. The Synthesis 9 findings, based on research conducted by others, most pertinent to this project are that: ⢠Annoyance remains the single most significant effect associated with aviation noise. ⢠Despite decades of research, including review of old data and new research efforts, it is as yet impossible to determine causal relations between health disorders and noise exposure. ⢠Speech interference (SI) is an important component in annoyance response. However, most SI studies and guidelines deal with steady-state noises. Aircraft noise is an intermittent noise, and therefore the SI literature is inadequate with respect to aircraft noise. ⢠Aviation noise effects on schools and school children have been well-researched and documented. Recent studies indicate a potential link between aviation noise and both reading comprehension and learning motivation, particularly for those children who are already scholastically challenged. While Synthesis 9 summarized work conducted by others that concluded a potential link between aircraft noise and learning, it also reported that there has been little work done on establishing a dose-response relationship between aviation noise and classroom effects. The Synthesis goes on to say that lack of a reliable dose-response relationship between aircraft noise and classroom effects makes the evaluation of aircraft noise on schools and setting policy very difficult. With this in mind, the objectives of this project are to: 1. Identify and evaluate conditions under which aircraft noise affects student learning, 2. Identify and evaluate one or more alternative noise metrics that best define those conditions. The mechanisms available to airports to reduce the impact of noise on surrounding communities include modifying structures, including schools, to reduce noise. FAA supports these efforts through noise set-aside funds from the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) which can be used to sound insulate schools in areas exposed to significant aircraft noise. FAA also provides guidance to airports on criteria and technology for such sound insulation programs. As befits an ACRP study, this current project is to provide practical findings that airports can apply for the purpose of noise mitigation. Accordingly, an additional objective of the project is to: 1-1
3. Identify the most effective of the current criteria for school sound insulation projects. The project consists of seven tasks conducted in two phases. In Phase I, a literature search was conducted, leading to the identification of gaps in knowledge relevant to the project objectives. A research plan was designed to fill these gaps. In Phase II, the research plan was implemented. This Final Report fully documents the Phase I and Phase II research activities and presents the results of the research analyses. 1-2
