Aircraft noise annoyance in recreational areas after changes in noise exposure: Comments on Krog and Engdahl (2004)

2005 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 1265-1267
Author(s):  
Ronny Klæboe
Author(s):  
Dominik Hauptvogel ◽  
Susanne Bartels ◽  
Dirk Schreckenberg ◽  
Tobias Rothmund

Aircraft noise exposure is a health risk and there is evidence that noise annoyance partly mediates the association between noise exposure and stress-related health risks. Thus, approaches to reduce annoyance may be beneficial for health. Annoyance is influenced by manifold non-acoustic factors and perceiving a fair and trustful relationship between the airport and its residents may be one of them. The distribution of aircraft noise exposure can be regarded as a fairness dilemma: while residents living near an airport may seem to have some advantages, the majority of residents living under certain flight routes or in their immediate proximity suffer from the disadvantages of the airport, especially the noise. Moreover, a dilemma exists between the airport’s beneficial economic impact for a region and the physical and psychological integrity of residents. Aircraft noise exposure through the lens of social justice research can help to improve our understanding of noise annoyance. Research indicates that the fairness perceptions of the parties involved can be enhanced by (a) improving individual cost–benefit ratios, (b) providing a fair procedure for deciding upon the noise distribution, and (c) implementing fair social interaction with residents. Based on the review of evidence from social justice research, we derive recommendations on how fairness aspects can be integrated into aircraft noise management with the purpose of improving the relationship between the airport and its residents, to reduce annoyance, and to enhance the acceptance of local aviation and the airport as a neighbor.


Author(s):  
Clémence Baudin ◽  
Marie Lefèvre ◽  
Patricia Champelovier ◽  
Jacques Lambert ◽  
Bernard Laumon ◽  
...  

Background: The effects of aircraft noise on psychological ill-health have not been largely investigated and remain to be discussed. No study has been performed in France on the health effects of aircraft noise. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between aircraft noise in dB and in terms of annoyance and psychological ill-health in populations living near airports in France. Methods: A total of 1244 individuals older than 18 and living near three French airports (Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Lyon–Saint-Exupéry and Toulouse–Blagnac) were randomly selected to participate in the study. Information about their personal medical history and socioeconomic and lifestyle factors was collected by means of a face-to-face questionnaire performed at their place of residence by an interviewer. Psychological ill-health was evaluated with the 12-item version of the General Heath Questionnaire (GHQ-12). For each participant, outdoor aircraft noise exposure in dB was estimated by linking their home address to noise maps. Objective noise exposure in dB was considered to be the primary exposure of interest. Four noise indicators referring to three different periods of the day were derived and used for the statistical analyses: Lden, LAeq,24hr, LAeq,6hr–22hr, and Lnight. Noise annoyance and noise sensitivity were the secondary risk factors of interest. Logistic regression models were used with adjustment for potential confounders. Results: The participation rate in the study was 30%. Approximately 22% of the participants were considered to have psychological ill-health according to the GHQ-12. No direct association was found between exposure to aircraft noise in dB and psychological ill-health. However, annoyance due to aircraft noise and noise sensitivity were both significantly associated with psychological ill-health. Moreover, a gradient was evidenced between annoyance and psychological ill-health, with increasing ORs from 1.79 (95% CI 1.06–3.03) for people who were not all annoyed to 4.00 (95% CI 1.67–9.55) for extremely annoyed people.Conclusions: These findings confirm the results of previous studies, suggesting there is no direct association between aircraft noise exposure in dB and psychological ill-health, but there is a significant relationship between noise sensitivity or annoyance due to aircraft noise and psychological ill-health. This supports the hypothesis that psychological aspects, such as noise annoyance and noise sensitivity, play important roles in the association between environmental noise and adverse effects on health. However, further studies are necessary in order to better understand the links between these variables.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Clémence BAUDIN ◽  
Marie LEFÈVRE ◽  
Patricia CHAMPELOVIER ◽  
Jacques LAMBERT ◽  
Bernard LAUMON ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Noise is a major public health issue because of its negative impacts on health, including annoyance, sleep disturbance, cardiovascular diseases and altered cognitive performance among children. Self-rated health status (SRHS) can be considered as a reliable indicator of quality of life, morbidity and mortality but few studies have considered SRHS in relation to aircraft noise exposure. The present study aims to investigate the association between this exposure and SRHS of people living near airports in France, and to consider the mediating or moderating role of aircraft noise annoyance and noise sensitivity in this association. Methods This cross-sectional study included 1242 participants older than 18 and living near three major French airports. Information on their SRHS, aircraft noise annoyance, noise sensitivity and demographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors was collected during a face-to-face interview performed at home. Outdoor aircraft noise levels were estimated for each participant’s home address using noise maps. Logistic regressions with adjustment for potential confounders were used. The moderating and mediating effects of aircraft noise annoyance and noise sensitivity were investigated following Baron and Kenny’s recommendations. Results A significant association was shown between aircraft noise levels and a fair/poor SRHS, only in men (OR=1.55, 95%CI 1.01–2.39, for a 10 dB(A)-increase in Lden). This relationship was higher in men highly sensitive to noise (OR=3.26, 95%CI 1.19–8.88, for a 10 dB(A)-increase in Lden). Noise sensitivity was associated with a fair/poor SRHS significantly in women (OR=1.74, 95%CI 1.12–2.68) and at the borderline of significance in men (OR=1.68, 95% CI 0.94–3.00), whereas aircraft noise annoyance was associated with a fair/poor SRHS only in men (OR=1.81, 95%CI 1.00–3.27). Conclusion The present study confirms findings in the small number of available studies to date suggesting a positive association between aircraft noise levels and a fair/poor SRHS. These results also support the hypothesis that noise sensitivity would moderate this association. However, a mediating effect of annoyance cannot be excluded.


Author(s):  
Truls Gjestland

The new WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region have recommendations for limiting noise exposure associated with adverse health effects. The limits are said to be based on a systematic review of existing evidence. This paper gives a systematic assessment of the presented evidence with respect to aircraft noise annoyance and demonstrates that the new guidelines are based on an arbitrary selection of existing studies comprising an imperfect and faulty set of data not representative for the general airport population.


Author(s):  
Truls Gjestland

The new WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region have recommendations for limiting noise exposure associated with adverse health effects. The limits are said to be based on a systematic review of existing evidence. This paper gives a systematic assessment of the presented evidence with respect to annoyance from aircraft noise. The new guidelines have been based on the results from a selection of existing aircraft noise studies. This paper demonstrates that a similar selection of other existing post-2000 studies will yield very different results. In addition, the validity of the presented evidence has been questioned as some of the referenced studies have not been conducted according to standardized methods, and the selection of respondents is not representative of the general airport population.


2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. HAINES ◽  
S. A. STANSFELD ◽  
R. F. S. JOB ◽  
B. BERGLUND ◽  
J. HEAD

Background. Previous research suggests that children are a high risk group vulnerable to the effects of chronic noise exposure. However, questions remain about the nature of the noise effects and the underlying causal mechanisms. This study addresses the effects of aircraft noise exposure on children around London Heathrow airport, in terms of stress responses, mental health and cognitive performance. The research also focuses on the underlying causal mechanisms contributing to the cognitive effects and potential confounding factors.Methods. The cognitive performance and health of 340 children aged 8–11 years attending four schools in high aircraft noise areas (16h outdoor Leq>66dBA) was compared with children attending four matched control schools exposed to lower levels of aircraft noise (16h outdoor Leq<57dBA). Mental health and cognitive tests were group administered to the children in the schools. Salivary cortisol was measured in a subsample of children.Results. Chronic aircraft noise exposure was associated with higher levels of noise annoyance and poorer reading comprehension measured by standardized scales with adjustments for age, deprivation and main language spoken. Chronic aircraft noise was not associated with mental health problems and raised cortisol secretion. The association between aircraft noise exposure and reading comprehension could not be accounted for by the mediating role of annoyance, confounding by social class, deprivation, main language or acute noise exposure.Conclusions.These results suggest that chronic aircraft noise exposure is associated with impaired reading comprehension and high levels of noise annoyance but not mental health problems in children.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-59
Author(s):  
Iheanyichukwu M. Elechi

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the aircraft noise exposure, annoyance reactions and health status of the residents living within the vicinity of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMA) in Lagos state, Nigeria. Aircraft noise monitoring was conducted in five locations within the vicinity (0-5Km) of MMA, and a sixth distant location (14km away). Levels of aircraft noise for all five locations within the vicinity of the airport exceeded the EPA Victoria threshold of 75 dB LAmax for the residential area (outdoor). A survey on annoyance induced by aircraft noise exposure and general health status was conducted on 450 local residents in the study locations using the International Commission on Biological Effect of Noise question and a single question that has been applied in Dutch national health care surveys since 1983 on self-reported general health status respectively. Percentage of residents within the vicinity of MMA that were highly annoyed (%HA) exceeded 15% guideline limit stipulated by Federal Interagency Committee on Urban Noise while 14.5% reported poor health status. There was a significant association between the annoyance reactions and aircraft noise levels in the study locations while the association between self-reported health status and aircraft noise levels was not significant. Taken together, the residents within the vicinity of the airport are exposed to aircraft noise levels above permissible limit which may be associated with high annoyance reaction but may not be associated with poor health rating. Evidence-based aircraft noise related policies by government are advocated.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2016
Author(s):  
Thulan Nguyen ◽  
Sonoko Kuwano ◽  
Ichiro Yamada ◽  
Takashi Yano ◽  
Makoto Morinaga

Expanding transport systems for life convenience and preserving the natural environment are essential but conflicting human activities. The operational expansion after the opening of a new terminal building at Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport was followed by changes in aircraft noise exposure. A series of socio-acoustic surveys were conducted around the airport, revealing different levels of noise annoyance responses in the surveyed sites. To clarify this discrepancy and to explore people’s true feelings, the Picture-Frustration test was conducted to assess attitudes toward the airport, aircraft noise, living environment, and awareness of environmental protection in the communities around the airport. A total of 321 responses were obtained. The results showed a significant variation in attitudes toward the airport and natural environment among residents in different areas. Urban residents preferred natural environment more than those living in rural and mixed sites, who desired harmony between nature and life convenience. Residents in rural sites raised more complaints about aircraft noise effects on sleep than those in the other sites. Factors of occupations and gardening activities did not affect residents’ attitudes toward the airport. The attitudes of the participants varied depending on the exposure noise levels. It was suggested that using multiple questioning methods is necessary to certify the true opinions and aspirations of people living in the project area and ensure sustainable development.


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