Previous studies estimating the willingness-to-pay for noise abatement have attempted to describe noise abatement textually. This study examines whether respondents to such surveys understand the information provided.

A text-based questionnaire was presented to respondents and a series of ancillary questions were asked to test the respondents’ understanding. Analysis suggests that the majority of respondents did not fully understand the information provided in the questionnaire. The estimated willingness-to-pay was $13 per decibel per annum for respondents who understood the information, as compared to $5 per decibel per annum for an individual without full understanding. By comparison, respondents to a survey that used actual noise recordings have an estimated willingness-to-pay of $16 per decibel per annum.

These results suggest that understanding the information in a survey questionnaire influences the estimated willingness-to-pay for noise abatement.