Community reaction to noise from power stations

Community reaction is a major consideration in noise control. The relationship between noise exposure and community reaction has received considerable attention in relation to railway, traffic, aircraft and impulsive noise. The results have shown a number of features in common, including: similarly shaped noise/reaction functions; similar results across different measurement techniques and cultures, noise/reaction correlations based on individual respondent data are low (mean r = 0.42 ± 0.12: Job, 1988), although correlations of .58 and above have been reported correlations based on data grouped by noise exposure are generally high and relatively unaffected by the type of noise studied whereas correlations based on individual data tend to be lower for impulsive noise than for transportation noise attitude to the noise source and sensitivity to noise shows strong correlations with reaction. This paper reports that the present study was undertaken in order toe establish over a wider range of noise exposure whether community reaction to power station noise is similar to reaction to other types of non-impulsive noise. It is possible that reaction is different given important differences in the source of the noise which may affect attitude. Attitudes towards power stations may be more positive than attitudes to aircraft or rail noise for example, because almost all respondents use electricity regularly every day. Further, the power stations in the present study provided employment for the relatively small surrounding communities