The effect of aircraft noise on noise annoyance in DEBATS and NORAH pooled analysis: Role of non-acoustic factors

We investigated the dose-response relationship between aircraft noise levels and noise annoyance in the French DEBATS study including 1244 participants in 2013 and a sub-study of the German NORAH study including 1039 participants in 2014. In both studies, annoyance due to aircraft noise was assessed using the ICBEN 5-points question. High annoyance was defined according to ISO/TS-15666 (HAV). Outdoor aircraft noise levels were modelled for the participants' home addresses. The moderation roles of noise sensitivity, gender and age were investigated. About 18% of the participants in the DEBATS study reported to be highly annoyed vs 54% in the NORAH study. The mean noise levels (Lden) were similar (54 dBA in DEBATS and 52 dBA in NORAH). In the pooled analysis, high noise annoyance was associated not only with aircraft noise levels, but also with non-acoustical factors such as noise sensitivity, age and trust in authorities. Noise sensitivity moderates the effect of aircraft noise levels on aircraft noise annoyance (p-value of interaction = 0.02), while age and gender do not.