Do we need different metrics to predict the effects of aircraft noise on children's well-being and health?

There are few and inconsistent results suggesting that chronic exposure to aircraft noise is associated with poorer quality of life or health in children. In the literature, LAeq and Lden are the dominating noise exposure metrics for calculating the relationship between noise, well-being and health. However, alternative metrics such as the number of events above a threshold (NAT) or LAmax are rarely considered, although they may have the potential to explain additional variance. This seems necessary because some reviews have indicated that the current evidence is insufficient. Here, we present a post-hoc analysis of the NORAH data set and aim to evaluate the adequacy of alternative noise metrics. Therefore, we focused on the home context and calculated regression models by using different noise metrics (LAeq, Lden, LAmax, Emergence, NAT). The calculations with different noise metrics showed that the LAeq as a single noise metric can predict annoyance and well-being at home best.