Over time:
Noise-related annoyance and quality of life over time
The analysis of the Noise-related annoyance over a period of three years was one of the central tasks of the Quality of Life Study. The first surveys took place before the opening of the new North-West runway at Frankfurt airport in October 2011. The curfew on scheduled take-offs and landings between 23:00 and 05:00 hrs also only came into effect as of this month.
In 2011, 2012 and 2013 the NORAH team asked people in the Rhine-Main region to what extent they felt annoyed by the noise of aircraft in the previous twelve months. The respondents selected their answers on a scale of 1 to 5: 1 stood for "absolutely no annoyance", 5 for "extremely high annoyance". The scientists used the answers to calculate how severely on average the respondents felt at which Continuous sound level. It was found that there were very different degrees of annoyance in the three years. The respondents felt most annoyed in 2012, the year after the opening of the new runway.
Changed noise background
In addition, the NORAH team wanted to know whether the changed noise exposure in the Rhine-Main area led to a Change Effect.
Quality of life and traffic noise
Noise can influence quality of life – both mentally and physically. In order to identify a possible connection between Traffic noise and quality of life, the NORAH team used several scientifically established questions. From the answers of the study participants they then calculated a point score for the mental and for the physical quality of life. They looked at the results over the course of time from 2011 to 2013, but also in comparison with the average value for the whole of Germany.
Noise-related annoyance increased since 2005
NORAH is not the first study to investigate to what extent people in the Rhine-Main region are disturbed by traffic noise. As far back as 2005, the so-called RDF Study commissioned by the Regional Dialogue Forum Frankfurt Airport asked the residents living in the environs of the airport to assess their noise-related annoyance on a scale of 1 to 5.
