How unhealthy is aircraft noise?

Anna Sandner

13.6.2023

Translation: Katherine Martin

I live under the Hamburg Airport flight path. Is this just a case of a little noise I can safely ignore? Or should I be worried about it taking a toll on my health?

Despite living in a big city, I’m lucky enough to be able to call a green oasis my home. I adore my garden. Now that it’s summer, I often sit on the terrace, enjoying an atmosphere so idyllic it’s almost clichéd: chirping birds, the soft rustle of the wind in the treetops, the occasional squirrel bounding out of a hedge.

This little piece of paradise, however, is consumed by the sound of aeroplanes flying overhead every ten minutes. My garden, you see, is located under a flight path not far from the airport. Once a year, while the other runways are being fixed up, most of the planes coming in to land make their approach right over my green garden. They come thundering in overhead, so low that I feel like I could almost scratch the underbellies of the aircraft.

If you watch this video, you’ll get an impression of just how much these low-fliers are wrecking my slice of paradise:

Is aircraft noise harmful to health?

Aircraft noise can lead to depression

As for me, I’ll be covering my ears and pushing through for the next few weeks. I’ll have to put up with the noise – and as it’s just a temporary annoyance in my case, I’m bound to manage.

Anna Sandner

Senior Editor

Anna.Sandner@galaxus.de

Science editor and biologist. I love animals and am fascinated by plants, their abilities and everything you can do with them. That's why my favourite place is always outside - somewhere in nature, preferably in my wild garden.

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