VARIABILITY IN THE CRITERION FOR REPORTING ANNOYANCE IN COMMUNITY NOISE SURVEYS

Independent estimates of the contributions of acoustic and nonacoustic factors to the prevalence of annoyance observed in 32 surveys of reactions to transportation noise are made by means of a previously described probabilistic model. The surveys show considerable variation in the level of noise exposure required to elicit self-reports of consequential degrees of annoyance. The distributions of the criteria for reporting annoyance with aircraft and with other noise sources overlap considerably, but the mean value of the criterion for reporting annoyance is about 5 dB more tolerant of nonaircraft exposure. Errors of estimates in quantifying noise exposure and human response in field studies are also assessed.