National Academies Press: OpenBook

Improving Intelligibility of Airport Terminal Public Address Systems (2017)

Chapter: Appendix B - Pilot Passenger Survey Questions and Results Summary

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Page 139
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B - Pilot Passenger Survey Questions and Results Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Improving Intelligibility of Airport Terminal Public Address Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24839.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B - Pilot Passenger Survey Questions and Results Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Improving Intelligibility of Airport Terminal Public Address Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24839.
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Page 141
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B - Pilot Passenger Survey Questions and Results Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Improving Intelligibility of Airport Terminal Public Address Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24839.
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Page 141
Page 142
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B - Pilot Passenger Survey Questions and Results Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Improving Intelligibility of Airport Terminal Public Address Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24839.
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Page 142

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139 Summary of Results • Passengers were willing to answer a short survey on airport announcements. • Passengers were willing to answer survey questions when airside—departure lounge, food court, and gate area. This is thought to be because once they are airside, passengers are gener- ally more relaxed and have some time available while visiting retail offerings or waiting for their flights. Passengers in these areas typically understand that they will need to listen for a PA announcement to help them with their journeys (i.e., boarding calls). • Passengers in landside airport areas—check-in, international arrivals, and baggage claim, were less willing to answer the survey questions. This is thought to be because passengers in these areas are either keen to get through security to the departure lounge or in a rush to leave the airport and get to their onward travel/destination. It is also believed that passengers in these areas are generally less engaged with PA messages because they may not feel that such messages are important at that stage of their journey. A shortened survey question set might be better suited to these airport areas. • Passengers typically check their flight information on the flight information display boards on arriving at check-in and once again after going through security. They check that their flight is scheduled on time and check for the gate allocation. • An increasing number of passengers are using smartphone apps and/or text updates from their airlines and describe that they feel comfortable that they will be contacted should there be any update, delay, or gate change. • Passenger behavior is to “tune out” from actively listening to announcements that they do not consider relevant to them. Not relevant may mean that it is a long time before their departure time, they hear a keyword in the announcement (e.g., a destination which is not theirs or is another passenger’s name), and/or it is a message they have heard before and do not feel is important to them. • Passengers stated that they felt PA announcements were most important to their journey when they are at gate areas. • Some non-native speakers stated that PA announcements were spoken too quickly for them to understand the full message easily. • Within the food court and some gate areas there were TVs. It was felt that the TVs were too quiet to easily listen to above the background noise, but could still be heard as muffled noise. This source of unintelligible noise may annoy some passengers. • Background music is played in some food court areas, but was paused before PA announce- ments enabling the PA announcements to be heard. TV sound did not pause before the announcements. • Gate areas in the terminal areas can get busy immediately prior to a flight departing. Some passengers (a high proportion of whom were business travelers) tended to stand and wait in A p p e n d i x B Pilot Passenger Survey Questions and Results Summary

140 improving intelligibility of Airport Terminal public Address Systems the gate area entrance nearest to the desk and boarding entrance. In this position—on the boundary between the gate area and the adjacent corridor—passengers commented that gate area announcements were muffled and sometimes difficult to hear and that on occa- sions the general corridor and gate announcements clashed/overlapped, thus making both announcements difficult to hear. Questions SECTION 1 – The Last 10 Minutes Please take a moment to consider the last 10 minutes that you have spent in this area of the airport: 1. Have you heard any PA announcements in the last 10 minutes? Yes – go to Q3 No – go to Q2 2. If you answered No to Q1. There have been a few announcements in the last 10 minutes. We are interested to understand what causes passengers to miss airport announcements. Can I ask if there has been anything which may have distracted you from hearing them, such as the following activities? Please select any applicable answers: a. In a rush b. Airport process (check-in, security) has been distracting me c. In conversation d. The children have been noisy e. Reading a book f. Listening to music g. Shopping h. Visiting restroom i. Stressed j. Distracted k. Other – please describe ___________________________________________________ Please go straight to Section 2. 3. Did the PA announcement provide information that was relevant to you? Yes – go to Q5 No – go to Q4 4. What made you decide that the message was not relevant to you? a. It was for a different flight – heard the destination b. It was a last call for a different passenger c. It was a security/safety announcement and I have heard them before d. Other – please describe ___________________________________________________ 5. Was the content of the message clear and easy to understand? Yes – message made sense No – I don’t know what it meant 6. Could you hear every part of the PA announcement clearly? Yes No 7. If you answered No to Q6. What made the message difficult to hear? Please select all that apply: a. Announcement too quiet b. Concourse background noise too high c. Announcement had poor sound quality (echo/distortion, etc.)

pilot passenger Survey Questions and Results Summary 141 d. Announcement was spoken too quickly to understand e. Announcement was not made in my language – please state language ______________________________________________________________________ f. I was distracted and did not hear it properly g. Other – please specify ____________________________________________________ SECTION 2 – Your Airport Experience—Whole Journey For the following questions, please consider your experience for the whole of your journey traveling through the airport today: 8. Do you feel PA announcements are important to you and your journey? Yes No 9. Do you actively listen out for PA announcements when in the airport? Yes No 10. Are there any areas of the airport where you are more likely to pay attention to PA announcements? a. Curbside areas b. Ticketing/check-in c. Departures lounge/hall d. Arrivals hall e. Concourse/walkways f. Gate areas g. Baggage claim h. Other – please specify 11. Have any PA announcements been difficult to hear or decipher whilst in the airport today? Yes No 12. If you answered Yes to Q11. Please specify the airport location where the PA announce- ment was difficult to hear: a. Curbside areas b. Ticketing/check-in c. Departures lounge/hall d. Arrivals hall e. Concourse/walkways f. Gate areas g. Baggage claim h. Other – please specify ____________________________________________________ 13. Why was it difficult to hear at that location in particular? _________________________________________________________________________ 14. Have there been any points of the journey today where you needed more information to be provided by PA announcements? Yes – what information did you need and where? _________________________________ No SECTION 3 – Generic Questions 15. What is the purpose of your journey today? a. Business b. Leisure

142 improving intelligibility of Airport Terminal public Address Systems 16. How often do you fly? a. Occasionally – less than one time per year b. 1 flight per year c. 2–5 flights per year d. 5+ flights per year 17. How often do you visit this airport? a. Occasionally – less than once per year b. 1 flight per year c. 2–5 flights per year d. 5+ flights per year 18. Is this airport: a. Your origin b. Your destination c. The location of your connecting flight 19. Are you traveling alone or in a group? a. Alone b. Small group c. Family with children d. Large group – 6+ 20. Do you use a device to assist with hearing? E.g., hearing aid, hearing induction loop. Yes No 21. If you answered Yes to Q20. Are you aware of and have you used the induction loop/FM hearing loop?

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TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Research Report 175: Improving Intelligibility of Airport Terminal Public Address Systems provides design guidelines to improve public address systems for all types and sizes of airport terminal environments. The guidelines include a summary of data on public address systems, terminal finishes and background noise levels in a variety of airport terminals, identification of acoustical shortcomings, and the results of impacts on existing public address systems. The report provides options for enhancing intelligibility in existing airport terminals as well as ensuring intelligibility in new terminal designs.

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