| Summary: | Yes === The tranquillity in national parks worldwide is
currently under threat from intrusion of anthropogenic
noise of a growing tourism industry and activity related to
park management. This was addressed by creating informative
tranquillity maps, where perceived tranquillity can
be considered a key indicator of soundscape quality in natural
areas. Tranquillity of an area can be assessed using
TRAPT (Tranquillity Rating Prediction Tool), that has been
developed and refined for assessing urban green spaces,
national parks and wilderness areas in the United Kingdom.
The subjective response to helicopter noise levels of
a sample group of 35 people representing the general New
Zealand population was obtained, based on visual and audio
stimuli that were collected in Aoraki/Mt Cook National
Park. These results were used to produce a revised TRAPT
equation. It was discovered that levels under 32 dBA correspond
to an excellent level of tranquillity. This thresholdwas
used to produce a noise level exposure calculation
for two national parks using noise prediction model AEDT
(Aviation Environmental Development Tool). Contours representing
tranquillity duration were then calculated and
plotted, to serve as a planning tool for use by the Department
of Conservation. A similar approach could be used
for other national parks worldwide
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