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-frequency sound levels due to aircraft operations in excess of 75 to 80 dB.