Karl S. Pearsons

Predicting noise‐induced sleep disturbance

The findings of 21 studies of the effects of noise on sleep were reanalyzed in an effort to develop a quantitative dosage‐response relationship. Large and systematic differences in sleep disturbance were observed between the findings of studies conducted in laboratory and in field settings. The influence of noise on sleep was also found to depend on additional factors such as the nature of noise and response metrics, noise source, background noise level, length of study, and sex of test participants. No reliable quantitative model for sleep disturbance could be developed from the studies reviewed.

Some Effects of Spectral Content and Duration on Perceived Noise Level

A number of experiments were conducted in which listeners equated a wide variety of sounds with respect to noisiness (equal acceptability) and loudness. The principal findings are as follows: (1) On the basis of data obtained from approximately 250 subjects, new equal‐noisiness contours and tables for use in the calculation of perceived noise level were determined. (2) Over a range of durations from 112 to 12 sec, sounds were judged equally acceptable when the sound‐pressure level was reduced by 412 dB for each doubling of duration. Variations in rise and decay times from 12 to 4 sec did not significantly influence the judgments. (3) Combining a pure tone of sufficient intensity with a band of filtered white noise caused subjects to judge the sound as noisier than the same band of noise at the same over‐all sound‐pressure level as the tone‐plus‐noise. On the other hand, the judged loudness of the band of noise, keeping over‐all level constant, was not appreciably affected by the addition of the tone. (4) ...

Field study of noise‐induced sleep disturbance

Behaviorally confirmed awakenings were recorded during nighttime hours for periods of approximately one month in 45 homes of 82 test participants. Measurements of awakening and of both indoor and outdoor noise exposure were made for a total of 632 subject nights near a military airfield, 783 subject nights near a civil airport, and 472 subject nights in neighborhoods with community noise exposure of nonaircraft origin. Sound exposure levels of individual noise intrusions were much more closely associated with awakenings than long‐term noise exposure levels. The slope of the relationship between awakening and sound exposure level was rather shallow, however. Although the present findings do not resemble those of laboratory studies of noise‐induced sleep interference, they are in good agreement with the results of other field studies.

Effects on sleep disturbance of changes in aircraft noise near three airports

Field measurements were conducted of potential sleep disturbance associated with changes in nighttime aircraft noise exposure near three airports. One study was conducted near Stapleton International Airport (DEN) and Denver International Airport (DIA) in anticipation of the closure of the former and opening of the latter. Sleep behavior was monitored in 57 homes located near runway ends at the two airports. A second study was conducted in the vicinity of DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK), a large general aviation airport that expected increased nighttime flight operations due to the Olympic Games in July and August of 1996. Similar methods of measuring nighttime noise levels and sleep disturbance in the two studies were maintained over the course of 2717 and 686 subject-nights of observations, respectively. No major differences in noise-induced sleep disturbance were observed as a function of changes in nighttime aircraft noise exposure.

Review of Field Studies of Aircraft Noise-Induced Sleep Disturbance

Aircraft noise-induced sleep disturbance (AN-ISD) is potentially among the more serious effects of aircraft noise on people. This literature review of recent field studies of AN-ISD finds that reliable generalization of findings to population-level effects is complicated by individual differences among subjects, methodological and analytic differences among studies, and predictive relationships that account for only a small fraction of the variance in the relationship between noise exposure and sleep disturbance. It is nonetheless apparent in the studied circumstances of residential exposure that sleep disturbance effects of nighttime aircraft noise intrusions are not dramatic on a per-event basis, and that linkages between outdoor aircraft noise exposure and sleep disturbance are tenuous. It is also apparent that AN-ISD occurs more often during later than earlier parts of the night; that indoor sound levels are more closely associated with sleep disturbance than outdoor measures; and that spontaneous awakenings, or awakenings attributable to nonaircraft indoor noises, occur more often than awakenings attributed to aircraft noise. Predictions of sleep disturbance due to aircraft noise should not be based on over-simplifications of the findings of the reviewed studies, and these reports should be treated with caution in developing regulatory policy for aircraft noise.

Aircraft noise annoyance at three joint air carrier and general aviation airports

The results of social surveys conducted near three airports that support both general aviation and scheduled air carrier operations are presented and discussed. Inferences supported by these data include: The nature of noise exposure and community reaction at smaller airports may differ from that at larger airports; survey techniques are capable of identifying changes in annoyance associated with numerically small changes in noise exposure; changes in the prevalence of annoyance are causally produced by changes in noise exposure; and changes in annoyance associated with changes in exposure vary with time.

Review of field studies of aircraft noise-induced sleep disturbance

Aircraft noise-induced sleep disturbance (AN-ISD) is potentially among the more serious effects of aircraft noise on people. This literature review of recent field studies of AN-ISD finds that reliable generalization of findings to population-level effects is complicated by individual differences among subjects, methodological and analytic differences among studies, and predictive relationships that account for only a small fraction of the variance in the relationship between noise exposure and sleep disturbance. It is nonetheless apparent in the studied circumstances of residential exposure that sleep disturbance effects of nighttime aircraft noise intrusions are not dramatic on a per-event basis, and that linkages between outdoor aircraft noise exposure and sleep disturbance are tenuous. It is also apparent that AN-ISD occurs more often during later than earlier parts of the night; that indoor sound levels are more closely associated with sleep disturbance than outdoor measures; and that spontaneous awakenings, or awakenings attributable to nonaircraft indoor noises, occur more often than awakenings attributed to aircraft noise. Predictions of sleep disturbance due to aircraft noise should not be based on over-simplifications of the findings of the reviewed studies, and these reports should be treated with caution in developing regulatory policy for aircraft noise.

Relationship between low-frequency aircraft noise and annoyance due to rattle and vibration

A near-replication of a study of the annoyance of rattle and vibration attributable to aircraft noise [Fidell et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 106, 1408-1415 (1999)] was conducted in the vicinity of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP). The findings of the current study were similar to those reported earlier with respect to the types of objects cited as sources of rattle in homes, frequencies of notice of rattle, and the prevalence of annoyance due to aircraft noise-induced rattle. A reliably lower prevalence rate of annoyance (but not of complaints) with rattle and vibration was noted among respondents living in homes that had been treated to achieve a 5-dB improvement in A-weighted noise reduction than among respondents living in untreated homes. This difference is not due to any substantive increase in low-frequency noise reduction of acoustically treated homes, but may be associated with installation of nonrattling windows. Common interpretations of the prevalence of a consequential degree of annoyance attributable to low-frequency aircraft noise may be developed from the combined results of the present and prior studies.

The Noisiness of Impulsive Sounds

Four experiments were performed in an anechoic chamber to investigate the effects of duration, intersignal interval, repetition, and frequency on the perceived noisiness of impulsive signals. All data were collected by an adaptive psychophysical procedure called Parameter Estimation by Sequential Testing (PEST). The major conclusions were that (1) the phase spectrum of an impulsive signal is irrelevant to its perceived noisiness, and (2) the ears sensitivity to noisiness of impulsive signals resembles an energy summation process; i.e., it appears to integrate total acoustic power of noise events to at least 100 sec.

Field study of the annoyance of low-frequency runway sideline noise

Noise from aircraft ground operations often reaches residences in the vicinity of airports via grazing incidence paths that attenuate high-frequency noise more than air-to-ground propagation paths, thus increasing the relative low-frequency content of such noise with respect to overflight noise. Outdoor A-weighted noise measurements may not appropriately reflect low-frequency noise levels that can induce potentially annoying secondary emissions inside residences near runways. Contours of low-frequency noise levels were estimated in a residential area adjacent to a busy runway from multi-site measurements of composite maximum spectra of runway sideline noise in the one-third octave bands between 25 and 80 Hz, inclusive. Neighborhood residents were interviewed to determine the prevalence of annoyance attributable to runway sideline noise at frequencies below 100 Hz, and of its audible manifestations inside homes. Survey respondents highly annoyed by rattle and vibration were concentrated in areas with low-f...