Responses of teachers to aircraft noise

Abstract

Acoustic measurements of aircraft noise in 139 schools in Hong Kong have been carried out. The schools are located under and very near the flight-paths of aircraft coming in and leaving the international airport, Kai Tak. Coupled with the acoustic measurements, measurements of the subjective responses to this aircraft noise of 2100 Chinese teachers in these schools have been made. It is found that the subjective responses of the teachers correlate well with the Noise and Number Index. Besides the effect of annoyance, it is further found that the more serious effect of aircraft noise is the disruption of verbal communication, resulting in speech and teaching interference during lessons. © 1979.