Evaluation of Noise ...

Aircraft noise has been a significant source of environmental noise affecting communities near the airport site, which perform activities that are unrelated to airport activities. The study evaluates the noise pollution level around the vicinity of selected airports in South-South, Nigeria. The Port Harcourt International Airport, Margaret Ekpo International Airport and Benin Airport were selected for the study. Using a sound level meter, the noise level (NL) of the airport environment, such as tower area, arrival zone, departure area and runway, was measured at Natural Noise Level (NNL), Aircraft Landing (LD) and Taking Off (TO). Across the tower area of the various airports’ environments, the NL ranged from 40.7 dB(A) to 70.1 dB(A) at Benin Airport, indicating “no risk” at NNL and “dangerous” noise quality status during LD. At the departure area, the NL ranged from 42.5 dB(A) to 71.6 dB(A) at Benin Airport, indicating “no risk” at NNL and “dangerous” noise quality status during LD. At other airports, the noise quality status ranged from “no risk” to “moderate risk” during LD. At the runway area of the airports, the NL ranged from 60.1 dB(A) to 83.7 dB(A) at Benin Airport, indicating “moderate risk” to “extreme dangerous” during take-off (TO). Overall, there was an indication that most NL was generated at the runway area while the least NL was around the tower area. Benin Airport had the highest generated NL, while Port Harcourt Airport had the lowest NL generation. Noise transmission reduction or prevention strategies should be encouraged.