NOISE/NOTES
By Eoin A. King, NNI Editor
NNI is on Facebook and Twitter — we try to keep our readers informed with noise news from across the globe by highlighting interesting research and projects. Here is a roundup of some of the stories that have been making headlines. Follow @NNIEditor to stay up to date with all noise-related news.
Reducing aircraft noise – one decibel at a time
A recent article in Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine highlighted several research projects ongoing across Europe aimed at reducing aircraft noise. It notes that in Europe, 22 million people have “chronic high annoyance” because of environmental noise including from planes. But it points to the work of an EU-funded project called INVENTOR that is aiming to make landings in particular less intrusive for the inhabitants below. The focus is on the landing gear, the flaps at the back of the wings, and the slats at the wing fronts. Separately, a now completed project, called DJINN, worked towards improving the simulation methods used by aircraft manufacturers to predict how loud their planes will be. It used advanced numerical methods and high-performance computing to predict fluid flows and improve the aerodynamic and acoustic performance of aircraft.
Unsafe Noise Exposure for the American Public
A recent POMA article calls on the FFA in the USA to take steps to reduce aviation noise exposure to prevent unnecessary illness and death in those people living close to airports and in overflight communities. It notes that, in response to the 1976 Aviation Noise Abatement Policy, the FAA adopted 65 dBA as the threshold of significant noise exposure, below which residential land uses are compatible. The Environmental Protection Agency, however, calculated that the safe noise levels for the public are DNL ≤55dB to prevent outdoor activity interference and annoyance and ≤45 dB to prevent indoor activity interference and annoyance.
Schipol Airport & Noise in the Courts
Euronews is reporting that a Dutch court has ordered the government to do more to cut noise pollution at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. The Hague District Court has said that the government has systematically put the interests of the aviation sector above those of people who live near Schiphol Airport one of Europe’s busiest aviation hubs, and that the treatment of residents amounts to a breach of Europe’s human rights convention.
The Noise/News Podcast – Aircraft Noise
An old one but a good one: This podcast was first broadcast back in 2021 where we sat down with Dr. Graeme Heyes where the topic of the podcast was aircraft noise. The podcast can be listened to on INCE-USA’s website here.
Some Background on Dublin Airport
In this special issue, we heard from the resident groups around Dublin airport. The controversy around noise from Dublin airport has been in the Irish national news quite a bit recently. For those of you who are interested to learn more, our NNI Managing Editor recently wrote an explainer for Ireland National Broadcaster (RTE), which gives a broad summary of the issues surrounding the airport. You can read more here.
Noise Reductions from Blended-Wing Aircraft
To finish on a positive note – new research from the Swiss laboratory Empa, suggests that new blended-wing body (BWB) aircraft could significantly reduce noise pollution at airports. The study, which was published in Aerospace Science and Technology, evaluated the noise impact of the new type of blended wing aircraft, and people to rate their impressions of different “noise scenarios” played at the laboratory’s AuraLab. It reports that “the perception-based evaluation of the BWB revealed that, while the BWB aircraft may initially be perceived as somewhat more unfamiliar, they are substantially less annoying than current tube-and-wing long-range aircraft of similar range and mission for take-offs as well as for landings”. Further, for the best BWB variant, noise annoyance was reduced by 4.3 units for departures and by 3.5 units for approaches. The main reason for these findings seems to be the acoustic shielding by the body of the extended fuselage, which was found to be an important factor in reducing sound levels in the order of 10–20 dB.
