Community Response To A Step Change In Aircraft Noise Exposure: The First Socio-Acoustic Survey Around Noi Bai Airport In Hanoi

The demand of air traffic has been increasing in not only developed but also developing countries. Noi Bai Airport is the second largest one in Vietnam whose new terminal building was constructed in December 2014. After the opening of the new terminal the number of arrivals and departures has become more than 500 in a day, twice as before the opening. Therefore socio-acoustic survey was planned three times before and after the opening of the terminal building in September 2014, March 2015 and September 2015 in order to investigate the effects of the step change in aircraft noise exposure on community response. This study reports the results of the first survey. Thirteen survey sites were selected around the airport. Questionnaire survey was administered by face-to-face interview so that totally 890 responses were obtained with a response rate of 68.5%. Aircraft noise was measured on a roof top of a house at each site for successive seven days. Lden ranged from 45 to 66 dB. The exposure-response relationship was compared with those in 2009 survey and EU position paper. This is slightly moderated from that in 2009 and almost equivalent to the EU curve below 55 dB although the prevalence of annoyance was greater than EU curve in higher Lden range. Sleep effects such as difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, premature waking, a feeling of light overnight sleep and insomnia were evaluated by sex/age-adjusted odds ratio in relation to the L-Aeq,L- n. When L-Aeq,L- n is over 55 dB, the odds ratios referring to the minimum noise exposure range (<= 45 dB) of all sleep effects were significant. The effects of the step change will be discussed after the next two surveys.