When environmental indicators are not neutral: Assessing aircraft noise assessment in Europe

Abstract

This paper brings the lessons of critical thinking of environmental indicators to transport studies. To demonstrate the extent to which these indicators are not neutral, the case study focuses on airport noise indicators imposed by both the European Union and Flanders, Belgium, as they are applied to Brussels Airport's operations. Three directions have been considered. First, we unveil the spatial mismatch between protests and official noise contours that are supposed to reflect overall annoyance and sleep disturbance. Then we highlight the high sensitivity of the mandatory noise indicators (Lden, Lnight and dose-effect function) to both their definition and the thresholds considered. Second, we review the legislative process at the time the EU and Flanders adopted their regulation on noise assessment. It appears both the nature of the indicators and thresholds have been the subject of debate by EU Ministers and MPs, while Flanders has imposed a dose-effect function that is arguably outdated and unusable in specific cases. Finally, we discuss the results through the lens of the authoritative power of official noise indicators and related maps, which many journalists and scholars take for granted. All this contributes to the construction of distorted knowledge of noise issues and calls for a reevaluation of the EU's and Flanders' noise indicators.

El enfoque en las métricas de ruido en la planificación sostenible del entorno aeroportuario: un caso de estudio argentino

“…These findings are comparable to those described by Rychtarikova et al (2015, cited in Dobruszkes andEfthymiou, 2020) who compared the spatial extent of noise contours for Brussels airport according to Lden and Freq60 day metrics. The Lden contours were smaller than the Freq60day contours, and therefore the number of residents exposed to aircraft noise also varied according to the metrics employed.…”

“…Aircraft noise is the main issue affecting the development, operations and capacity of airports across the globe (Upham et al, 2003) and it is the main cause of adverse reactions from communities living in areas surrounding airports (Payán Sánchez et al, 2018). Exposure to aircraft noise has been associated with physical and mental health issues -including sleep disturbance, cardiovascular disease and hearing impairment-and with an overall reduction in quality of life (Dobruszkes and Efthymiou, 2020).…”

Detecting and Correlating Aircraft Noise Events below Ambient Noise Levels Using OpenSky Tracking Data

“…This was illustrated in a recent report evaluating the regional noise indicators for Flanders [9]. An evaluation of noise complaints in the Brussels area showed similar results [10]. It illustrates that a large portion of the population who report annoyance or submit complaints for aircraft noise lives well outside the Lden 55-dBA contours and are exposed to even lower levels than advised in the recent WHO guidelines report [8].…”

“…Since people can detect specific noise sources well below ambient noise levels, including partially masked events, this will increase the quality of the exposure model. Other authors focus on the political aspects of noise legislation and argue that the choice of implemented annoyance functions and thresholds are not only impacted by the scientific evidence but also by the process of political compromise at all policy levels-regional, federal and EU [10].…”

The fundamentals of environmental regulation of aviation: a focus on EU emissions trading scheme

“…8 Nevertheless, the rapid air transport growth has created a series of environmental problems from noise pollution to climate change. 9 Aviation is one of the most energy-and carbon-intensive forms of transport, whether measured per passenger, per km or per hour of travelling. The main objective of the paper is to give an overview of the fundamentals of environmental regulation of the aviation industry and provide a comprehensive analysis of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).…”