The FAA conducted a large-scale Neighborhood Environmental Survey (NES) of 10,000 people near 20 U.S. airports to measure how aircraft noise affects community annoyance, finding that significantly more people are bothered by noise than older studies suggested — about 66% of respondents were highly annoyed at 65 decibels (DNL) and 20% at 50 decibels. The agency uses the Day-Night Average Sound Level (DNL) metric to measure noise exposure and is reviewing whether its longstanding 65 DNL threshold for 'significant' noise impact should be updated. The FAA is seeking public comment on these research findings before making any changes to official noise policy.Open full document
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The FAA’s Neighborhood Environmental Survey (NES) fact sheet summarizes a multi-year research effort to quantify the relationship between aircraft noise exposure and community annoyance near 20 commercial service airports in the US. The survey of 10,000 people found that approximately 66% of respondents were highly annoyed at 65 DNL and 20% at 50 DNL, showing more people are highly annoyed at given noise levels compared to historical data. The document also includes a Federal Register notice requesting public comments on FAA aircraft noise policy and research efforts.