Understanding the basics of aviation noise

Abstract

This chapter deals with the description of the physical mechanisms of noise, the noise perception and the annoyance induced by air traffic in the aeronautics domain. The authors introduce the basics of aviation noise, describe the main characteristics of the noise emitted by an aircraft in flight, recall the fundamental laws of the audition and noise perception and present the specific context for the annoyance due to aviation noise. This chapter presents and details, as simply as possible, the complex relationships between physical phenomena and noise perception in order to highlight the key notions in aviation noise issues. The readers will find answers to many usual and legitimate questions, for example what is the relationship between the perceived noise and the level of the physical noise related to the European ACARE goals which are expressed sometimes as EPNL reduction in dB or sometimes as perceived noise reduction in percent.