Noise metrics analysis in schools near airports: A Brazilian case study

Abstract This study compares metrics for environmental noise diagnosis in schools at airport vicinity. The goal is to analyze and identify the most suitable criteria for scaling aircraft noise impact over schools, during landing and take-off operations. A Brazilian case study is conducted, based on the noise mapping and sound level verification. The day-night average noise level (DNL) and the time above limit (TA) are investigated using acoustic simulation and noise mapping and in order to identify the critical receivers. Results of DNL and TA for two schools at airport surroundings show that the criteria adopted by the municipal and airport authorities to describe the airport noise are unsatisfactory and do not reflect the intermittent behavior of this type of noise. It was verified that individual receiver analysis, based on noise interruptions thought TA parameter is more suitable for evaluation of noise impact over schools at airport vicinity.