Glossary

The Data Acquisition System contains data on the airport, the takeoff and landing corridors, as well as the number of flight movements. The system also stores the “noise class” to which the respective aircraft type belongs.

The decibel – “dB” or “dB(A)” – is a measure of sound pressure level and thus of loudness. The decibel scale from 0 to 120 dB(A) reflects the range from the absolute threshold of hearing to the pain threshold. The scale is not linear. We perceive an increase of ten decibels as roughly a doubling of the loudness – in the lower and at the upper ends of the range.

Depression is a severe psychological problem in which affected persons suffer from sadness, lack of motivation and loss of interests. The acute phase of depression, i.e. the usually temporary occurrence of the disease, is called a depressive episode.

A digital terrain model contains the elevation data for the terrain at several points. These points are arranged in specified, regular grids, e.g. 10 x 10 or 50 x 50 metres.