Aircraft Noise Assessment in a Mixed Urban–Residential Hamlet and the Possible Role of Tree Cover in Noise Abatement in Pajac, Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines
J. Espenido, J. Cenia, T. Peñalosa, and D. Dy (pp. 22-31)
Abstract
Pollution is a big issue in the Philippines. However, the country has not focused its attention towards noise pollution. This study assessed the noise intensity of a hamlet located very near the airport, where aircraft takeoffs and landings occur daily. It compares the noise intensity (in decibels) between areas with tree cover and those without. The noise intensity data were derived from recording using a mobile application, Sound Meter Pro (by Mobile Essentials), installed in two Android phones, LG G3 and Asus Zenfone Max. To avoid any bias, both phones were calibrated against a laboratory sound meter before and after field samplings and against
each other, since the phones were switched between two sublocations (i.e., with tree and without tree cover). Our results showed a significant difference between sound intensities recorded in areas with (mean ± S.D.: 83.94 ± 5.51, n = 10) and without tree cover (88.14 ± 6.76, n = 10). This suggests that tree cover does reduce the amount of noise generated from aircrafts in the vicinity.