Richard Howe

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.

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...

Influence of low‐frequency content on rate of growth of annoyance of high‐energy impulsive sounds

Various ‘‘corrections’’ have been suggested to measures of high‐energy impulsive sounds to account for their seemingly anomalous annoyance, some on the basis of the findings of studies that may not have accurately reproduced the low‐frequency content of high‐energy impulses. The present study measured rates of growth of annoyance of impulsive and nonimpulsive sounds by adaptive paired comparisons of the annoyance of five variable level signals and 29 impulsive and nonimpulsive fixed level signals. All test sounds were presented for judgment in a specially designed low‐frequency test facility. When the annoyance of an aircraft flyover was compared to that of a low‐frequency band of noise and of sonic booms accompanied by rattle, the relative rates of growth of annoyance were not much different from 1:1. When the annoyance of sonic booms that were not accompanied by rattle was compared with that of sounds containing more higher‐frequency energy (an aircraft flyover and an octave band of noise centered at 1 ...

Comparison of noise metrics for predicting the annoyance of aircraft overflight noise

Two groups of 30 audiometrically screened test participants judged the relative annoyance of two comparison (variable level) signals and 30–34 standard (fixed level) signals in an adaptive paired comparison psychoacoustic study. The signal ensemble included primarily stage II and stage III aircraft overflights, as well as synthesized aircraft noise signatures. Test signals were presented for judgment as heard indoors (test 1) and outdoors (test 2), in the presence of continuous background noise, under free‐field listening conditions in an anechoic chamber. For both tests, analyses of the performance of 30 noise metrics as predictors of these annoyance judgments confirmed that the more complex metrics were generally more accurate and precise predictors than the simpler methods. EPNL was slightly less accurate and precise as a predictor of the annoyance judgments than a duration‐adjusted variant of Zwicker’s loudness level. [Research was supported by NASA, Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia.]

Initial results of study of aircraft noise effects on residential sleep disturbance

More than 1800 subject‐nights of observations have been completed in a large‐scale, in‐home study of awakenings associated with nighttime aircraft noise exposure in the vicinity of an Air Force base, a major civil airport, and several sites in urban neighborhoods with negligible nighttime aircraft noise exposure. A statistically reliable relationship was found between behaviorally confirmed awakenings and indoor sound exposure of individual noise events. This relationship is similar to one reported in another recent large‐scale field study, and also with a relationship summarizing the findings of several earlier field studies of noise‐induced sleep disturbance. The findings do not, however, agree well with those typically found in laboratory studies of sleep disturbance, nor with an interim dosage‐response relationship adopted by the Federal Interagency Committee on Noise. [Research sponsored by U.S. Air Force Armstrong Laboratory, Wright‐Patterson Air Force Base, OH.]

Design of a large‐scale, in‐home study of noise‐induced sleep disturbance

Pearsons, Barber, and Tabachnick (1990) have documented large differences in the findings of laboratory and home studies of the ability of noise to disturb sleep. More recently, preliminary analyses of data collected in a large‐scale, in‐home study of sleep disturbance [Ollerhead et al. (1992)] suggest a lower probability of awakening than indicated by a dosage–response relationship recommended by Federal Interagency Committee on Noise [FICON (1992)]. The U.S. Air Force is currently conducting an in‐home study of sleep disturbance, intended in part to clarify several issues not fully resolved in prior work. These include the definition of sleep disturbance and the temporal linkage between noise exposure and sleep disturbance. The rationale, design, and progress of the Air Force study are described.