To complain or not to complain : spatial analysis of complaint behavior around military installations

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: This technical note (TN) explores the spatial patterns associated with the probability of receiving a community complaint in response to blast noise from military training. In this instance, blast noise is defined as high-intensity impulsive noise emitted by large weapons, heavy artillery, and explosions. This TN specifically seeks to understand who in the communities surrounding military installations are more likely to use complaining as a coping strategy. Community noise complaints, which often escalate into lawsuits and legal actions, are an ongoing impediment to military training. They frequently result in training curfews, restrictions, and rangeclosures. The current Department of Defense (DoD) approach to handling noise complaints is ad hoc and reactive, and thus, is generally ineffective. This is a major problem given that noise from testing and training activities impact unit readiness and soldier effectiveness activities. The problem is projected to become worse as installations increase their training capacities and unit throughput as part of the base realignment and closure process (BRAC) (Report to Congress on Sustainable Ranges 2013). Training restrictions due to noise have been cited as one of the factors that will negatively impact installations out to 2025 (Lachman et al. 2011). Most community noise research has been concentrated on community annoyance in response to noise, both military and otherwise, with not as much effort focused on the use of complaining as a coping strategy for annoyance (Maziul et al. 2005; Guski 1999). That is, not everyone who is annoyed by noise will complain. Complaint behavior is one of several coping strategies available to people annoyed by noise, including habituation, retrofitting of homes, litigation, and relocation away from the noise source (Nykaza et al. 2013; Collette 2011). Research, predominantly focused on community response to airport noise, has identified several demographic and socioeconomic variables that are associated with the types of individuals who are most likely to use complaining as a coping strategy in response to being highly annoyed by environmental noise. These variables are age, gender, education level, income level, and housing value. The profile that has emerged is of an older, better educated person with higher income and housing values (