Workshop on Noise Policy Developments

This paper describes how the development, formulation, and implementation of America’s noise policies are currently the responsibility of a dozen Federal departments and agencies, as well as the corresponding departments and agencies of the fifty states and the local governments. Each has a mandate from a Federal, state, or municipal legislative body to implement a noise control policy within their jurisdiction or area of responsibility. A recent special issue of the Noise Control Engineering Journal was devoted to an in-depth study of noise policy in America. The articles that appeared in this special issue were expanded and updated versions of papers presented at NOISE-CON 2001 in Portland, Maine and INTER-NOISE 2002 in Dearborn, Michigan. These papers were presented by members of the INCE/USA Study Team on National Noise Policy. Nearly two years have elapsed since the last discussion of national noise policy in Dearborn. The purpose of this workshop is to discuss the latest developments in U. S. noise policy in several areas: (1) aircraft/airport noise; (2) surface transportation noise; (3) industrial noise; (4) occupational noise; (5) consumer-product noise; (6) state noise policies; (6) Department of Transportation strategy; and (7) local citizens’ issues.