Black and Black

• Aim

  • To explore the impact of aircraft noise in the health of a community of people living in the areas surrounding Sydney airport
  • Is health-related quality of life worse in a community by aircraft noise compared to a community not affected
  • Is long term exposure to aircraft noise associated with high blood pressure in adults
• Participants


  Two areas of Sydney were picked

  1. The aircraft noise area - comprised of multiple regions that experienced more than 50 aircraft noise events a day, louder than 70dbs
  2. The control area - suburb of South Penrith - located 55km from Sydney

  Questionnaires were mailed out to every home address in the area. Researchers received 704 fully completed questionnaires and respondents were mostly from the aircraft noise area from people aged 15 - 87
• Procedure


  Questionnaires sent out contained a number of sections:

  1. Health (physical, mental, vitality and general) was assessed
  2. Hypertension (questions about medical history in relation to cholesterol and high blood pressure)
  3. Annoyance from noise (from 0-10 rating scale)
  4. Identification of extraneous variable (employment factors, exercise, nutrition, smoking status) to eliminate any factors that could contribute to hypertension that were not from aircraft noise
• Results

  • Participants in the noise area had a significantly higher sound annoyance score compared to the control area
  • After controlling extraneous variables means score from mental health in the noise area was significantly lower than the control area was due to noise
  • Long term exposure to aircraft noise was associated with chronic noise stress and the prevalence of hypertension
• Conclusion


  It is clear that living near aircraft noise has a significant negative impact on the lives of residents. Policies and health support should be made available to people who live with aircraft noises