ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a synopsis of the contextual factors that have the potential to adversely affect aviation communication. Research outside aviation, examining the effect of background noise such as music or noise reflective of a coffee shop atmosphere on vigilance, is more plentiful. The relationship between noise and motivation is of particular interest to aviation. Experience with the aviation language did prove beneficial in the presence of noise for non-native English speakers only in the passive noise cancelling headphone condition, but not for native English speakers. For pilots in general aviation, where noise levels commonly exceed 90 decibels during normal operations, increasing the signal-to-noise ratio has the real potential to reduce communication errors. In contrast, for the aviation industry in particular, the impact of noise on pilot performance is an area that has received little attention. Noise inside the cabin of commercial as well as general aviation aircraft can only be described as excessive.
