Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
flight health risks, making sure they are put clearly into context so that travellers can
make informed decisions regarding their health.
C
OMMUNITY
HEALTH
ISSUES
For most people, the potential health risk associated with aviation is part of a conscious
voluntary act that is traded off against the benefits of air travel or employment. How-
ever, for many individuals living close to major airports, there are mainly the negative
aspects of a close source of noise and air pollution. For airports near to urban centres,
these can affect a considerable number of individuals. The main community health
issues are associated with noise, air pollution and third-party risk.
Aircraft noise
It seems patently obvious, and has been clearly established, that aircraft noise adversely
affects people living near airports. Loud aircraft noise is a source of irritation and
annoyance that can disturb activities and interfere with communication (Berglund
and Lindvall, 1995). For some vulnerable groups of individuals (those who are eld-
erly, children, chronically ill, neurotic, or hospitalized) this could lead to chronic con-
ditions of stress, maladaptation and ill health.
The disturbance caused by aircraft noise is the single most important environmen-
tal issue to affect the growth of airports in Europe (Berglund and Lindvall, 1995;
Berglund, Lindvall and Schwela, 1999). Noise-related operational controls and lim-
its have already significantly constrained the growth of some major European air-
ports (ICAO, 1993). Aircraft noise technology is improving, but these benefits are
being offset by the growth in air traffic. At the same time, residents of communities
near airports are becoming more sensitive to issues such as noise disturbance and fear
of crashes and have increasing expectations with regard to health, well-being and
quality of life (Moss et al, 1997).
There is little evidence of direct auditory damage caused by aircraft noise in the
community except in the most extreme cases. However, there are other less direct effects
of noise, frequently described as non-auditory, that are considered by many authors
to detract from the health and well-being of the recipient. Responses to aircraft noise
that have been associated with possible health effects include:
•
annoyance and complaint;
•
sleep disturbance;
•
stress.
It is obvious that the above are not mutually exclusive. For example, sleep disturbance
could certainly lead to annoyance besides its more immediate physiological effects
on the sleep process and become a source of stress. One of the first difficulties encoun-
tered in this research area is the lack of a common universal metric to describe the noise
environment. There are two main types applied: single noise events or cumulative
scores. Single noise events are usually described by L
max
(maximum noise level
experienced) or the peak sound exposure level (SEL), which measures the maximum
