Aircraft noise descriptor and its application

The methods and indices used in Japan to evaluate aircraft noise and the government-enforced countermeasures are discussed. The ECPNL descriptor was modified so as to make the new descriptor, WECPNL', approximately equivalent to Lden, and the noise contours were calculated for each airport in Japan. The government enforced the policy of land purchase within the WECPNL' of 85, and the houses within the value of 75 were declared as needing insulation. The noise descriptor Leq or Ldn has been used to describe human responses to various kinds of noises. However, a single value descriptor was found to have a limit of applicability, because the human response is not a linear function of a sound level. Another defect of the descriptor is a failure to represent the human response adequately for a small number of flights. It is noted that the house vibration caused by low-frequency components of aircraft noise cannot yet be evaluated.