Community response to a step change in the aircraft noise exposure around Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport

Abstract

In December 2014, a new terminal building was opened at the Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport (HNBIA) with two runways, causing a 20%-30% increase in the number of flights. Three socio-acoustic surveys were conducted in August-September 2014, February-March 2015, and August-September 2015, to contribute not only to the environmental impact assessments and aircraft noise policies in Vietnam but also to more global intervention studies. Because of the change of runway use, in addition to the increased number of flights, noise exposure at each site changed considerably among the surveys. Changes in the noise exposure from the first to the second or third survey (ΔL and ΔL) were used as a measure of exposure change. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that ΔL has a significant positive effect on annoyance regardless of ΔL ranges, but the effect of ΔL on insomnia was significant only for ΔL > 0. Annoyance increase in the overall ΔL range may be caused by the respondents' recognition of increase in emission in addition to practical increase in exposure. More severe attitudes to airplanes around HNBIA might increase annoyance even if noise exposure decreases. Thus, the change effect clearly occurs in annoyance but partially in insomnia.

Effects of Changes in Acoustic and Non-Acoustic Factors on Public Health and Reactions: Follow-Up Surveys in the Vicinity of the Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport

“…According to the analysis in Section 3.4, in the 2nd and 3rd surveys, the prevalence of annoyance increased even if L den decreased, while such a significant increase was not observed in the 4th and 5th surveys and the exposure-response relationships were almost identical to that in the 1st survey. This result suggests that the change effect may relate to not only acoustical factor but other psychological factors, such as cognition and attitude to the expansion of airport operation as discussed in the previous study [13]. However, there was no increase in the prevalence of ISM when L night decreased.…”

“…To assess the effects of a step change in noise exposure levels around NBIA, step-change surveys were conducted once before and twice after the change in operation. As a result, a significant change effect including the excess response and under response was observed with respect to annoyance; however, only the excess response was observed with regard to sleep disturbance [13]. The reaction to noise shortly and long after the step change in noise exposure may differ, as suggested in other studies [14,15].…”

Validity of Reference Time Intervals in Noise Indicators for Aircraft Noise Policy in Vietnam

“…Since 2005, we have repeatedly conducted socio-acoustic surveys in Vietnam to accumulate data for the foundation of a noise policy framework [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. In these surveys, noise indexes such as day-evening-night-weighted sound pressure level (L den ), day-night-weighted sound pressure Table 1.…”

“…In Vietnamese national technical regulation on noise, QCVN 26:2010/BTNMT, the segmentation of the reference time intervals is different from other countries, and if it is appropriate to be used for establishing aircraft noise standards for Vietnam has not been verified. Since there are no census data that could be referred to in defining these time intervals, data accumulated in the socio-acoustic surveys in Vietnam from 2005 to 2019 [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] were used to verify the validity of the time intervals in the current standards and regulations and the future aircraft noise standards. All the data indicating the time zones of go-to-bed time, wake-up time, and other living activities in various parts of Vietnam were examined.…”

“…Thirteen socio-acoustic surveys on the effects of transportation noise have been conducted in Vietnam from 2005 to 2018 [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. The surveys were performed using a questionnaire form designed following the technical requirements specified in ISO/TS 15666 and labeled as "Survey on the living environment"-without informing the respondents that the purpose of the survey is to investigate the noise impact [21].…”