DEFRA National Noise Attitude Survey 2012 shows extent of interference from aircraft noise in people’s lives

DEFRA has produced the results of the National Noise Attitude Survey 2012, which looked at the extent to which noise from various sources is a problem to people. They compared the figures from 2000 with 2012. They found the 4 main sources of noise were  ‘Road traffic noise’, ‘noise from neighbours and/or other people nearby’, ‘aircraft, airports and airfield noise’ and ‘noise from building, construction, demolition, renovation and road works.’  Though the numbers hearing these noises had remained (2000 to 2012) roughly the same, there is a strongly statistically significant increase in the proportion of respondents who report being bothered, annoyed or disturbed to some extent by these 4 noise sources. The number who consider themselves to be significantly adversely affected by aviation noise has risen from 2% to 4%, which is strongly statistically significant. DEFRA says: “it must not be forgotten that a small percentage still equates to a large number of people.” The study showed that of the 510 people who put aviation noise in the top 3 sources that “bother, annoy or disturb” them, some 33% reported interference with sleeping; 24% reported interference with spending time in the garden or on the balcony / terrace; 23% said it interfered with having the windows or doors open; 23% said it interfered with listening to the TV, radio or music; and 23% said it interfered with concentration.  (Section V2.8)
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The DEFRA National Noise Attitude Survey 2012   (NNAS2012)
Summary Report December 2014

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=12378_SummaryReportV1.0.pdf

The introduction says:

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the UK Government
Department with overall responsibility for the policies designed to manage noise; the
overarching policy in England is the Noise Policy Statement for England.

Noise is an inevitable consequence of a mature and vibrant society. For some the noise of city life provides a desirable sense of excitement and exhilaration, but for others noise is an
unwanted intrusion that adversely impacts on their quality of life, affecting their health and
well being. Furthermore, the cost of noise pollution in England from road traffic noise
alone is estimated to be between £7 billion and £10 billion per year, so this is an issue of
some importance.

To support its work, Defra needs up-to-date information on current attitudes to noise
among the population. Two large-scale surveys on attitudes to noise have been
previously conducted on behalf of Defra and its predecessor body (the Department of the
Environment), in 1991 and in 2000.

Defra commissioned a new survey to examine the 2012 experience of noise, and attitudes
to it, and whether that has changed over the last decade. This project had two principal
objectives:

• to provide the Government with a good estimate of current attitudes to various
aspects of environmental, neighbour and neighbourhood noise3 (including the percentage
of the population affected); and
• to allow the Government to detect any substantive changes in attitudes to noise in
the UK since the 2000 survey.

Key Findings

In general 72% of respondents had a positive attitude to their local noise environment.
‘Road traffic noise’, ‘noise from neighbours and/or other people nearby’, ‘aircraft, airports
and airfield noise’ and ‘noise from building, construction, demolition, renovation and road
works’ are the most frequently heard sources of noise for people in their homes in the UK.
There has been no material change in the proportion of the population who report hearing
noise from these four sources between 2000 and 2012.

However, over the same period there has been a strongly statistically significant increase in the proportion of respondents who report being bothered, annoyed or disturbed to some extent by these four most commonly heard sources of noise (‘road traffic’, ‘neighbours and/or other people nearby’, ‘aircraft, airports and airfields’ and ‘building, construction, demolition, renovation and road works’) despite no material increase in the proportion of the population hearing noise from these four sources.

The proportion of people that consider themselves to be significantly adversely affected
by the four most commonly heard sources has not changed as much, with ‘road traffic’
remaining the same (8%), ‘neighbours and/or other people nearby’ increasing from 9% to
11%, ‘aircraft, airports and airfields’ (from 2% to 4%) and ‘building, construction,
demolition, renovation and road works’ (from 2% to 3%).

Of these, only the increase seen for ‘aircraft, airports and airfields’ is strongly statistically significant (see Figure 1). Of  course, it must not be forgotten that a small percentage still equates to a large number of people.

In general, 48% of people feel their home life is spoilt to some extent by noise with 52%
reporting that noise did “not at all” spoil their home life.

Respondents were shown a list of 12 environmental problems and asked which five they
were most affected by. From 2000 to 2012, noise has moved up from ninth to fourth place
in a list of twelve of environmental problems. Whilst, the list of environmental problems
used in the survey is not exhaustive, respondents now rate noise broadly similarly to air
quality (‘traffic exhaust fumes and urban smog’) in their perception of the relative concerns
about environmental problems. Noise is selected more often than other environmental
issues such as (lack of) recycling, quality of drinking water, sewage on beaches or in
bathing water, and loss of plant life and/or animal life.

Respondents living in homes built before 1919 tend to report more negative responses to
‘road traffic’ noise and increased use of quiet areas compared with respondents in homes
built between 1961-1990, after controlling for the other dwelling, sociodemographic and
geographic factors.

The NNAS2012 confirms that type of housing (bungalow, flat, detached, etc) is an
important factor that should be taken into account when assessing the influence of noise
exposure on attitudes and behaviour.

Statistically significant age differences were seen in how people respond to noise.
Younger and older respondents were less likely to respond negatively to noise compared
with mid-aged adults. Similarly, respondents who were retired were also less likely to
respond negatively to noise, even after taking age into account.

The comparable findings from NNAS2012 and NNAS2000 are summarised in the report.
A NNAS was also undertaken in England & Wales during 1991, however the changes
made to the questionnaire and survey methodology since 1991 are such that reliable
comparisons cannot be made.

Results are also presented for the individual nations (England, Wales, Scotland and
Northern Ireland) in the report.

Conclusions

The National Noise Attitude Survey 2012 shows that 72% of respondents reported general
satisfaction with their noise environment.

Between 2000 and 2012 there was an increase of between 11% and 17% (depending on
the noise source) in the proportion of people surveyed who feel that they are to some
extent adversely affected by the four most commonly heard sources of noise (‘road traffic’,
4‘neighbours and/or other people nearby’, ‘aircraft, airports and airfields’ and ‘building,
construction, demolition, renovation and road works’).

Between 2000 and 2012 there was a decrease of between 10% and 16% (depending on
the noise source) in the proportion of people surveyed who feel that they are not at all
adversely affected by the four most commonly heard sources of noise (‘road traffic’,
‘neighbours and/or other people nearby’, ‘aircraft, airports and airfields’ and ‘building,
construction, demolition, renovation and road works’). This suggests that the population
may be less tolerant of noise than in 2000.

The proportion of those reporting themselves as being significantly adversely affected has
remained broadly the same (see Figure 1 for actual proportions by source), i.e. the
proportion of those experiencing potentially significant adverse effects has not worsened.
The number reporting hearing the four most commonly heard sources of noise has also
remained broadly the same(again, see Figure 1 for actual proportions by source).
In general, 48% of respondents said that their home life was spoilt to some extent by
noise, with 52% reporting that noise did “not at all” spoil their home life.

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 Chart below from Page 6 of the Summary report 

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=12378_SummaryReportV1.0.pdf

Defra National Noise Attitude Survey 2012 published 18.12.2014

Section V 2.8 is about aircraft noise  and starts on Page 48 of

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=12380_Volume2CurrentAttitudesV1.0.pdf

This states (there are also many tables):

The Aircraft, Airport, or Airfield Noise Module was only completed by those who rated the
source in the top 3 at question A10 (n=510). In this section, with the exception of question
AN1, which is presented for the whole sample (n=2747), the descriptive statistics are
presented for each question for the whole sample (n=2747) and also for those who
completed the module (n=510).

Respondents were asked to what extent they were bothered, annoyed, or disturbed by
noise from different types and sources of aircraft, airport, or airfield noise on a five-point scale (‘1 = Not at all’ to ‘5 = Extremely’).

Around 10-17% of all respondents reported hearing noise from specific types of aircraft such as commercial airliners, and private and military helicopters. 17% of all respondents reported hearing civil helicopters, followed by 15% hearing commercial airliners, 14% private light aircraft, 13% military helicopters and 12% fighters.

59% of those who heard commercial airliners reported being bothered, annoyed or
disturbed to some extent by the noise from them. This equates to 47% of those who were presented with the aircraft noise module and 9% of the entire sample. 30% of those who heard private light aircraft reported being bothered, annoyed or disturbed to some extent by the noise from this type of aircraft. This equates to 22% of those who were presented with the aircraft noise module and 4% of the entire sample. 19% of those who heard fighters reported being bothered, annoyed or disturbed to some extent by the noise from them. This equates to 13% of those who were presented with the aircraft noise module
and 2% of the entire sample.

61% of those who heard civil helicopters reported being bothered, annoyed or disturbed to some extent by the noise from them. This equates to 55% of those who were presented
with the aircraft noise module and 10% of the entire sample. 29% of those who heard
military helicopters reported being bothered, annoyed or disturbed to some extent by the
noise from this type of aircraft. This equates to 20% of those who were presented with the
aircraft noise module and 4% of the entire sample.

However, an additional 12% of those presented with the aircraft noise module heard noise
from other helicopters, but were unable to identify whether they were civilian or military in
origin. When considering a combined category of ‘all helicopters’, 18% (n=486) of all
respondents reported hearing some kind of helicopter noise. 62% of those who heard
helicopters reported being bothered, annoyed or disturbed to some extent by the noise from them. This equates to 59% of those who were presented with the aircraft noise
module and 11% of the entire sample.

Respondents were additionally asked, which aircraft they heard flying low over their homes. 5% of all respondents reported hearing commercial airliners flying low over their homes. 9% of the sample reported hearing helicopters flying low, with a further 4% reporting hearing military helicopters flying low. Of those hearing aircraft, airport or airfield noise, nearly half (48%) reported hearing helicopters and just over one-quarter (27%) reported hearing commercial airliners flying low.

DEFRA National Noise Attitude Survey chart 22.1.2015

The numbers in the above refer to the % from the whole sample (2747 people) and the % from the sub-section (510 people) who put aviation noise in the top 3 of those that “bother, annoy or disturb” them.

Respondents were asked to select five terms that described how noise from aircraft,
airports, or airfields made them feel.  The terms most frequently used, by all respondents, to describe the noise from aircraft, airports, or airfields were ‘irritated’ (8%), ‘annoyed’ (6%) and ‘bothered’ (4%). Of those hearing noise from aircraft, airports, or airfields two-fifths chose ‘irritated’ (42%), and over one-quarter chose ‘annoyed’ (30%) and ‘bothered’ (24%).  One-tenth of those hearing the aircraft, airport or airfield noise also chose ‘startled’ (11%) and ‘fed up’ (12%).

Respondents were asked whether or not noise from aircraft, airports, or airfields interfered with a number of activities at home. Four to six percent of all respondents reported that noise from aircraft, airports, or airfields interfered with sleeping (6%), spending time in the garden or on the balcony / terrace (5%), having the windows or doors open (4%), listening to the TV, radio, or music (5%), resting (4%), and concentrating (4%). For those who heard aircraft, airport, or airfield noise, one-third (33%) reported interference with sleeping, and around one-quarter reported interference with spending time in the garden or on the balcony / terrace (24%), having the windows or doors open (23%), listening to the TV, radio or music (25%) and concentrating (23%).

Respondents were asked to state whether they were particularly bothered, annoyed or
disturbed by aircraft, airport or airfield noise at different times of the day (day, evening,
night) and week (weekdays, weekends). There was some variation in annoyance at
different times of the day or week. For all respondents, reports of aircraft, airport or airfield
noise being annoying at home were most common during the day at the weekend (6%).
Levels of annoyance during the week were similar for the day, evening, and night at
around with around 5% reporting being bothered, annoyed or disturbed by aircraft, airport,
or airfield noise at these times. Levels of annoyance were lowest during the night at the
weekend (5%).

For those who heard aircraft, airport, or airfield noise, around one-quarter to one-third of
reported being bothered, annoyed or disturbed by aircraft noise. Over one-third of those
who heard aircraft, airport or airfield noise were annoyed by it during the day at the
weekend (35%). Just over one-quarter of those who heard the noise reported annoyance
during the evening and night at the weekend. Annoyance during the weekday was similar
for the day, evening, and night, with around 30% of those who heard aircraft, airport or
airfield noise reporting annoyance.

Respondents were asked to evaluate whether they felt that noise from aircraft, airports or airfields had been getting better or worse over the past five years. Only 4% of all
respondents felt that aircraft, airport, or airfield noise at home had been getting worse over the past five years (rating of 4-5), with 8% feeling that it stayed the same over the past five years. Only 3% of respondents felt that aircraft, airport or airfield noise had got better over the past five years.

Over one-third of the respondents who heard aircraft, airport, or airfield noise at home felt
that it had got worse over the past five years (37%). 44% felt it had stayed the same and
13% felt that it had improved over the past five years.

….. and there is more ….

see  http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=12380_Volume2CurrentAttitudesV1.0.pdf

 


 

National Noise Attitude Survey 2012 – NO0237
Description

NNAS 2012 is a major face-to-face survey of attitudes to environmental, neighbour and neighbourhood noise. This includes noise from transportation sources, noise from inside and outside other people’s homes, and noise arising from within the community, such as industrial and entertainment premises. Two large-scale surveys on attitudes to noise have been previously conducted on behalf of Defra and its predecessor body, in 1990 and in 2000. To help ensure that policy making is based on up to date evidence, Defra commissioned a new survey to examine current experiences of, attitudes to noise. The survey was also designed to examine any changes over the last decade.
Objective

To support its work, Defra needs up-to-date information on current attitudes to noise among the population. Two large-scale surveys on attitudes to noise have been previously conducted on behalf of Defra and its predecessor body (the Department for the Environment), in 1991 and in 2000 (NNAS2000).
To bring this information up to date, Defra commissioned a new survey to examine what is the current experience of noise, and attitudes to it, and whether that has changed over the last decade. The new project had two principal objectives:
• to provide the Government with a good estimate of current attitudes to various aspects of environmental, neighbour and neighbourhood noise (including the percentage of the population affected); and
• to allow the Government to detect any substantive changes in attitudes to noise in the UK since the 2000 survey.

Project Documents

• FRP – Final Report : Summary Report V1.0   (1036k)
• ANX – Annex : Volume 1 Method V1.0   (3328k)
• ANX – Annex : Volume 2 Current Attitudes V1.0   (1387k)
• ANX – Annex : Volume 3 Comparison with NNAS2000 V1.0   (419k)
• ANX – Annex : Volume 4 Regional Data V1.0   (2556k)
• ANX – Annex : Volume 5 Factors Associated with Response V1.0   (936k)