Aviation Noise in the United States: The Current State of Federal Aviation Administration Research on Community Response

Abstract

Despite today's civilian aircraft fleet being quieter than at any time in the history of jet-powered flight, communities in the United States continue to file complaints about aircraft noise. Additionally, the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Neighborhood Environmental Survey (NES) has shown that community response to aviation noise in the United States has changed and the dose-response relationship between noise and annoyance such as the one represented by the Shultz Curve is no longer representative of communities' lived experiences. This paper will examine the current aviation noise environment in the United States, and how the nature of aviation noise and the characteristics of communities that raise significant noise concerns in the United States have changed since the start of widespread use of commercial jet-powered aircraft in the 1960s. This paper will also explore the changing nature of community response to aviation noise based on the FAA's latest research findings on aviation noise and annoyance as detailed in follow-on analyses to the NES.