Aircraft noise a growing nuisance
When airplanes fly close to your house, they might impair your ability to sleep and learn.
JB: This is Earth & Sky, on how noise from airplanes affects people.
DB: Unless you work around airplanes, you aren’t likely to experience hearing loss from aircraft noise. But if you live near an airport, the noise could cause you to lose sleep. And dozens of studies have shown that noise disrupts children?s ability to learn.
JB: For example, a 2005 study conducted in Europe and published in the medical journal The Lancet found that exposure to aircraft noise impaired children?s performance in reading comprehension and memory. James Bridges is an aerospace engineer at the Glenn Research Center.
James Bridges: The problem of aircraft noise has become very troublesome for two reasons. Number one, because land use has made it so airports have to be very close to people and that?s especially true in Europe. Number two, it?s because we?ve put a lot more airplanes per hour through our airports. So instead of having a loud noise every few minutes, you literally have a loud noise every 30 seconds or less. And it?s only going to get worse because we are trying to put more airplanes through an airport to make them more efficient. And land use – they aren?t making any more land – so people will still want to live in town not too far away from airports.
DB: Bridges uses computers to simulate the noise made by new aircraft before the aircraft are even built. That saves designers time and money in the quest to build quieter airplanes.
JB: That?s our show. Our thanks today to NASA. We?re Block and Byrd for Earth & Sky.
A 2005 study conducted in Europe and published in the medical journal The Lancet found that exposure to aircraft noise impaired children?s performance in reading comprehension and ?recognition memory.? That?s the ability to recognize that they?ve seen something before, such as a word, a face or a place. The study, titled, “Aircraft and road traffic noise and children’s cognition & health: exposure-effect relationships” was part of the RANCH Project Read a summary of the RANCH Project results
You can find links to “other reports”: about the physical and psychological effects of aircraft noise on people by visiting FICAN – the Federal Interagency Committee on Aviation Noise. The site also includes a rundown of aviation noise issues
Our thanks to:
James Bridges
NASA Glenn Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio
216-433-2693
james.e.bridges@nasa.gov
Additional Teacher Resources
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association: “AOPA’s Guide to Airport Noise and Compatible Land Use,:“http://www.aopa.org/asn/land_use/
This site contains information that guides in the understanding of the issues, rules, procedures, and policies applicable to airport noise and compatible land use planning.
