A major new report from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), published 10th June 2026, has found that people get annoyed at much lower noise levels than previously thought. It backs up what residents have been saying for years. For example, a previous CAA report called SoNA published 10 years ago  found that 10% of people experiencing noise levels of 55LAeq were annoyed, The new study found 30% were annoyed at 55 LAeq. 55 LAeq is the noise averaged out over a 16 hour day. Most European countries use Lden (noise averaged out over a 12 hour day, a 4 hour evening and an 8 hour night, with 5 and 10 decibels added to the evening and night respectively to allow for quieter background levels at these times). But whatever the metric used, the message is clear: people are affected by lower aircraft noise levels than the authorities previously recognised. The new report’s findings are roughly in line with the 2018 World Health Organisation Guidelines.
https://www.caa.co.uk/media/znmfqdoa/cap-3131-aviation-noise-attitudes-survey-2023-2024.pdf