How unhealthy is aircraft noise?

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:

One thing’s for certain: the constant noise pollution isn’t particularly good for my peace of mind. Even if I am trying not to get too worked up about it. After all, it’s not as if I can do anything about it. One of my neighbours is reaping even more drastic consequences from the situation. She’s scheduled her annual holiday for these four weeks, leaving town to get away from the noise. That’s not something I can arrange – and I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary. After all, it’s for a limited period. I don’t think four weeks will do any harm. Or will it?

Is aircraft noise harmful to health?

As air traffic has increased, its impact on the population’s health has been the subject of numerous scientific studies. Their conclusion? Exposure to aircraft-related noise pollution can have psychological and physical consequences. Issues spanning increased blood pressure, sleep disorders, learning disabilities in children, anger and depression, to be exact.
A systematic review (in German) evaluating epidemiological studies linked continuous aircraft noise levels of 60 decibels during the day and 45 decibels at night to increases in arterial hypertension (i.e. persistent high blood pressure). Antihypertensive drugs are also prescribed more frequently in the vicinity of airports. Noise pollution affects cognitive performance too, with school children’s reading comprehension shown to deteriorate as aircraft noise increases.

Aircraft noise can lead to depression

A large-scale study (in German) on noise generated by traffic in general revealed that the psychological stress caused by persistent, disruptive noise can even lead to depression. The studies concluded that as the decibel level increases, the effects often become more severe.
However, they also illuminated the fact that people have varying sensitivity to aircraft noise. What might be a cause of major sleep deprivation for one person might just be a minor annoyance for someone else. Plus, these studies examined long-term effects i.e. the consequences of years of disruptive noise pollution.

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.