An alternate approach to regulatory analyses of the findings of a 20-airport social survey

Miller, Czech, Hellauer, Nicholas, Lohr, Jodts, Broene, Morganstein, Kali, Zhu, Cantor, Hudnall, and Melia [(2021). HMMH Report 308520.004.001] reported the findings of a 20-airport social survey sponsored by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration that had been designed and conducted six years earlier. Their primary analyses yielded FICON [(1992). “Federal agency review of selected airport noise analysis issues” (Department of Defense, Washington, DC)]. Style (national average and airport-specific bivariate logistic regression) functions relating aircraft noise exposure to the prevalence of high annoyance. Alternate analyses of these field observations offer pragmatic benefits for regulatory purposes. Community Tolerance Level (CTL) analysis yields a national average exposure-response predictive function that is nearly indistinguishable from that of a bivariate logistic regression function. Since it natively distinguishes dose-related from collective, non-dose influences on annoyance, it also permits a more parsimonious and readily understood account of the association between aircraft noise exposure and annoyance. Within the exposure range of primary contemporary regulatory concern, CTL analysis accounts for as much variance as FICON-style analysis in the association between noise exposure and predicted annoyance; provides a causal basis for regulation; and can be more effectively implemented and defended than a purely correlation-based analysis. In addition, CTL analysis helps to address the substantial disagreement between the findings of the literature and those of national and international technical consensus standards.