The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) has examined the relationship between aircraft noise and severe annoyance or sleep disturbance for 14 airports in the Netherlands. This is referred to as the ER relationship. For most airports, the pattern is clear: the likelihood of severe annoyance or sleep disturbance increases as noise levels rise. However, the relationship can differ from one airport to another and may change over time. RIVM therefore advises policymakers to always use current, airport specific ER relationships. This will ensure the highest level of health protection from aircraft noise for people living near airports.
At present, policy and regulations often still rely on the ER relationships established in 2002 to estimate the effects of noise on annoyance and sleep disturbance. They are not only outdated, but they are also based solely on data for Schiphol Airport.
The study carried out in 2020 to reassess the ER relationships took place in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, air traffic was curtailed and people spent more time at home, which may have influenced the results. For this reason, RIVM, at the request of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the Ministry of Defence, has now determined new relationships between aircraft noise and annoyance based on new data from 2024.
It calculated the ER relationships for the Schiphol, Rotterdam, Lelystad, Eelde, Eindhoven, Maastricht airports and eight military airfields.
Data and method
RIVM used data from the GGD Health Monitor 2024. In this national survey, respondents also answered questions about the extent to which they experienced annoyance or sleep disturbance from aircraft noise.
RIVM compared the responses with data on average aircraft noise exposure (in decibels), which the Netherlands Aerospace Centre calculated for thousands of positions around the airports. These were then linked to the survey participants’ home addresses.
ER relationships are airport-specific
The study shows that the relationship between aircraft noise and the likelihood of annoyance is different for every airport.
For Schiphol Airport, the new ER relationship predicts less severe annoyance at lower noise levels compared with the 2002 study, but more severe annoyance at higher noise levels. For most other civilian airports, the new ER relationships come close to the ones established in 2002.
For civilian airports in particular, the new 2024 ER relationships are lower than those from 2020. This means that, for the same noise level, the 2024 ER relationship predicts less annoyance than the 2020 one. This may be due to pandemic‑related circumstances, but it cannot be confirmed with the available study data.
Advice: use current and relevant ER relationships
RIVM recommends using the most recent, airport‑specific ER relationships and updating them regularly. This will ensure the highest level of health protection from aircraft noise for people living near airports.It is also important to continue monitoring the effects of aircraft noise closely.