Visitor assessment of anthropogenic noise at Grand Canyon National Park

Abstract

In the last decade, multiple studies have been conducted at national parks using the traditional uni-polar annoyance scale and the dose-response concept to determine the effects of aircraft noise on park visitors’ experiences. This survey instead uses a bipolar “pleasantness” scale and breaks each visitor’s hike into segments so as to understand the efficacy of the pleasantness scale as a metric for visitor perceptions of aircraft noise. This survey was conducted on three different trails at the Grand Canyon: the Hermit trail, a backcountry trail with a large amount of aircraft noise; the Widforss trail, a backcountry trail with minimal aircraft noise; and the Bright Angel trail, a maintained trail with a small amount of aircraft noise but many hikers. Many visitors began hiking before aircraft started flying so the use of segments allowed for a longitudinal study between segments with and without aircraft noise. Through the use of these segments, correlations are drawn and regression models fit between pleasantness and various metrics, such as Leq or percent time audible. The results to date show “pleasantness” to be a viable alternative metric to quantify visitor perceptions of aircraft noise in national parks.