EPNdB

Effective perceived noise in decibels (EPNdB) or Effective Perceived Noise Level (EPNL) is a measure of the relative noisiness of an individual aircraft pass-by event. It is used for aircraft noise certification and applies to an individual aircraft, not the noise exposure from an airport. Separate ratings are stated for takeoff, overflight and landing events, and represent the integrated power sum of noisiness during the event. Instantaneous value of noisiness is computed with the PNL or PNdB metric over the period within which the noise from the aircraft is within 10 dB of the maximum noise (usually at the point of closest approach.) It is defined, with computational instructions, in Annex 16 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation and in Part 36 of the US Federal Aviation Regulations. The scaling is such that the EPNdB rating represents the integrated noisiness over a ten-second period; EPNdB of 100 dB means that the event has the same integrated noisiness as a 100 PNdB sound lasting ten seconds. Direct comparison with A-weighted sound pressure level, which is used for many other environmental sound measurements, is not possible because PNdB is a noisiness metric rather than a sound pressure metric.

The term "cumulative" EPNdB is the combination of the noise margins from the three ratings. It is defined as the sum of the individual margins (difference between certified noise level and noise limit) at takeoff lateral, takeoff flyover and approach.