Modeling and synthesis of aircraft flyover noise

Traditionally aircraft flyover noise is assessed by displaying contours of noise metrics. These models can be used to study noise mitigation measures but they lack the possibility to play-back the audible sound as predicted by their calculations. To that end, noise synthesis is an option that allows to experience differences due to noise abatement procedures or new aircraft designs. A noise synthesis technique for aircraft noise is demonstrated by predicting the noise at a noise monitoring location near an airport. By comparing the synthesized results to a recorded measurement, an indication on the capability of this technique has been acquired. Differences between the synthesized and measured sound remain. A large part of that difference is believed to be caused by the inherent uncertainty when using predictive empirical source noise models. It is shown that differences between departure routes can be captured, thereby illustrating the potential of this method to listen to different take-off procedures. Future improvements in source noise prediction and the inclusion of the effects of turbulence on propagation will further aid to the realism of synthesized aircraft noise. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.