Perceptual characterisation as a key approach for identifying acoustic factors relevant to community annoyance from helicopter noise
Résumé
The potential development of urban air mobility raises questions about its acceptability for residents overflown by new VTOLs. Studying reactions of people living near heliports and along flight paths is therefore relevant, since helicopters are currently the only aircraft authorised to operate at low altitude over urban areas. This paper reports part of the findings from the first community survey on helicopter noise in France. A questionnaire completed by 768 residents near a heliport and its flight path in the Paris region was combined with an acoustic measurement campaign and an acoustic noise modelling. Global and event-based acoustic indicators were calculated to each respondent to test the validity of dose–response models commonly used to explain high annoyance. In the study area, 18% of respondents reported being highly annoyed by helicopter noise. Univariate logistic regression analyses showed a clear association between high annoyance and exposure levels, regardless of the indicator used. Although event-based models provided a better fit, their explanatory power for high annoyance remained limited. A multivariate model demonstrated that several perceptual characteristics of helicopter noise — covering both single flyovers and overall traffic— significantly influenced high annoyance. In line with notice–event theory, our findings indicated that only certain helicopter flyovers captured attention, with perceptions varying according to reported annoyance. These differences corresponded to measurable acoustic parameters, some not reflected by conventional indicators, particularly temporal and spectral characteristics. They also revealed a psychological dimension whereby the unpredictability of flyovers can elicit negative emotional responses that, in turn, increased annoyance