RESPONSE TO COMMENTS ON EFFECTS OF AIRCRAFT OVERFLIGHTS ON WILDERNESSRECREATIONISTS [J. ACOUST. SOC. AM. 104, 1726 (1998)]

Dr. Staples' lengthy comments [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 104, 1726-1728 (199 8)] deal less with the matters of research design or data analysis des cribed by Fidell et al. [J. Acoust. Sec. Am. 100, 2909-2918 (1996)] th an with her beliefs about the proper study and interpretation of aircr aft noise effects in outdoor recreational settings. Her comments nonet heless raise several interesting issues related to the role of technic al expertise in noise-related policy analyses. This response therefore concentrates on those of Staples' comments and arguments that are of general interest, while only secondarily addressing certain inaccuraci es and oversimplifications in them. (C) 1998 Acoustical Society of Ame rica. [S0001-4966(98)02009-8]