Psychological response to helicopter noise at RAF shawbury

Abstract

This paper describes an investigation into resident's psychological responses to helicopter noise around an RAF helicopter flying station. Helicopter noise episodes were monitored for two weeks at 58 different locations in an area where helicopter flying training operations took place. Residents were interviewed, asked to complete a questionnaire and keep annoyance diaries. At the end of the survey period, residents were asked how annoyed they had been by helicopter noise over the past two weeks. The results showed that most residents were not worried about accidents and felt that training should take place locally, but were equivocal over whether they felt that community concerns mattered and whether they could influence decisions made about training operations. Only 10% of residents reported that they had been "very" or "extremely" annoyed by helicopter noise in the two-week monitoring period, and annoyance ratings did not correlate well with the LAeq, LCeq, LAmax, L10 or LAmax - L90 metrics. Overall there was a poor relationship between objective noise levels and subjective response. Residents were more likely to report being "very" or "extremely" annoyed by an episode of helicopter noise if they were homeowners, "noise-sensitive", held a negative attitude towards the RAF or reported being annoyed by helicopter noise generally in the two-week period. Overall, the survey demonstrated that the relationship between helicopter noise and reported annoyance is not straightforward, and that annoyance relates partly to individual differences and the impact of helicopter noise on daily living but apparently less to objective measured noise levels.