Psychology - Black and Black

• Background

  This study investigated the effects of stressors in the environment, namely noise from aircraft, on the physical and mental health of those living nearby. It took place near Sydney Airport in Australia.
• Aims

  To research the impact of aircraft noise on the physical and mental health of communities living near an airport.

  1. is health-related quality of life worse in a community chronically exposed to aircraft noise than in a community not exposed?
  2. is long-term aircraft noise exposure associated with hypertension in adults, with noise stress as a meditating factor?
• What is the noise gap index?

  New way of measuring the impact that aircraft noise has on health and well-being of residents. The noise gap index is the difference in noise between any aircraft noise and normal background noise.
• Procedure

  A pilot study was conducted by administering a questionnaire to 100 residents of a small suburb south of Sydney Airport, Australia. This was to check the reliability of the scales, and led the researchers to remove some items from the scales that were deemed unnecessary.
• Procedure

  Data was gathered using a questionnaire. The covering letter that accompanied the questionnaire explained that the study was about environmental noise but did not mention aircraft noise (presumably because that might bias participants’ responses).
• Procedure - Health measurement

  The questionnaire measured seven major characteristics of each participant.

  1. Health related quality of life
  2. Hypertension condition
  3. Noise stress
  4. Noise sensitivity
  5. Noise annoyance
  6. Demographic characteristics
  7. Confounding factors

  The questionnaire gave an overall score out of 100, higher meaning more positive health status.
• Procedure - Noise measurement

  Objective measurements were also taken of the noise levels in the two main locations by setting up noise stations outside randomly selected households that were mostly located in what could be termed ‘local traffic areas’. Noise data was collected at 26 stations located around Sydney Airport and three stations in the control area. These noise measurements noted the difference between the background noise and the noise from the aircraft, referred to as the noise gap index.
• Method

  This study was a quasi-experiment, comparing people living in a high noise area near Sydney airport in Australia with a matched control group.
• Method - Sample

  1500 participants in the chosen areas were contacted via mail, and the researchers received 704 fully completed questionnaires. Residents from the noise-affected area were more likely to respond. This might reflect lack of relevance of a questionnaire about environmental noise in daily life of participants in the control area. Respondents were aged 15-87. (No age bias, good)
• Method - Setting

  A highly exposed, noise-affected area near Sydney Airport and a control area were chosen for the study. The highly exposed area experiences more than 50 aircraft per day that are over 70 decibels. The control area, South Penrith, is an area about 55km from Sydney Airport that is not exposed to aircraft noise. This particular town was chosen based on matching the socio-economic status and demographics of the exposure areas.
• Results - Health and related measures

  Most of the health measures of the noise exposure group were lower than the control group, including mental health score, general health and vitality.
• Results - Health related quality of life and aircraft noise

  Participants in the noise exposure group had lower physical functioning, general health, vitality and mental health than the control group. This suggests that health-related quality of life is lower in the noise exposure group than the matched control group.
• Results - chronic aircraft noise, stress and hypertension

  Long-term aircraft noise exposure was significantly associated with chronic noise stress, and chronic noise stress was significantly associated with the prevalence of hypertension. After controlling for potential confounding variables, participants who had been chronically exposed to high aircraft noise levels were 2.61 times more likely to report chronic noise stress. These chronic noise stress participants were 2.74 times more likely to report hypertension compared with those without chronic stress.
• Conclusions

  In relation to the two questions asked at the start:

  1. Long-term aircraft noise exposure was significantly associated with chronic noise stress
  2. Chronic noise stress was significantly associated with prevalence of hypertension.

  Black and Black et al concluded that those who live in a noise-affected area are more likely to suffer from stress and are more likely to experience hypertension than those who do not live in a noise affected area.
• Applications

  Black et al discussed several applications based on what they had found. Moving the airport to a non-residential area is not practical or financially viable, so the aviation industry has a responsibility to attempt to reduce the impact of the noise on residents. One possible solution in this case is to develop further runways and flight paths, so as to spread the noise.
• Applications

  An alternative is to reduce the hours in which planes could land, but the lost revenue from this would probably make this option unfeasible. One solution that has already been initiated is improving the sound insulation in houses that are affected by chronic noise from the airport.
• Applications

  Yet another solution might be providing residents with help such as medication, which has been trialled in previous research. Black et al suggest psychological interventions such as CBT, mindfulness or behaviour modification techniques.