One hundred and ninety residents around Frankfurt Airport (46% female; 17-80 years) were interviewed concerning noise annoyance due to transportation noise (aircraft, road traffic), perceived mental and physical health, perceived environmental quality, and noise sensitivity. The aim of the analyses was to test whether noise sensitivity reflects partly general environmental sensitivity and is associated with an elevated susceptibility for the perception of mental and physical health. In this study, the reported physical and mental health variables were not associated with noise exposure but with noise annoyance, and were interpreted to reflect nonspecific codeterminants of annoyance rather than noise effects. Noise sensitivity was found to influence total noise annoyance and aircraft noise annoyance but to a lesser degree annoyance due to road traffic noise. Noise sensitivity was associated with reported physical health, but not with reported mental health. Noise-sensitive persons reported poorer environmental quality in their residential area than less sensitive persons in particular with regard to air traffic (including the facets noise, pollution, and contaminations) and quietness. Other aspects of the perceived quality of the environment were scarcely associated with noise sensitivity. This indicates that noise sensitivity is more specific and a reliable predictor of responses to noise from the dominant source (in this case air traffic) rather than a predictor of the individual perception of the environmental quality in general.

The associations between noise sensitivity, reported physical and mental health, perceived environmental quality, and noise annoyance

In a survey of 2,312 residents living near Frankfurt Airport aircraft noise annoyance and disturbances as well as environmental (EQoL) and health-related quality of life (HQoL) were assessed and compared with data on exposure due to aircraft, road traffic, and railway noise. Results indicate higher noise annoyance than predicted from general exposure-response curves. Beside aircraft sound levels source-related attitudes were associated with reactions to aircraft noise. Furthermore, aircraft noise affected EQoL in general, although to a much smaller extent. HQoL was associated with aircraft noise annoyance, noise sensitivity and partly with aircraft noise exposure, in particular in the subgroup of multimorbid residents. The results suggest a recursive relationship between noise and health, yet this cannot be tested in cross-sectional studies. Longitudinal studies would be recommendable to get more insight in the causal paths underlying the noise-health relationship.

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Aircraft Noise and Quality of Life around Frankfurt Airport

The type of noise annoyance scale and aspects of its presentation such as response format or location within a questionnaire and other contextual factors may affect self-reported noise annoyance. By means of a balanced experimental design, the effect of type of annoyance question and corresponding scale (5-point verbal vs. 11-point numerical ICBEN (International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise) scale), presentation order of scale points (ascending vs. descending), question location (early vs. late within the questionnaire), and survey season (autumn vs. spring) on reported road traffic noise annoyance was investigated in a postal survey with a stratified random sample of 2386 Swiss residents. Our results showed that early appearance of annoyance questions was significantly associated with higher annoyance scores. Questionnaires filled out in autumn were associated with a significantly higher annoyance rating than in the springtime. No effect was found for the order of response alternatives. Standardized average annoyance scores were slightly higher using the 11-point numerical scale whereas the percentage of highly annoyed respondents was higher based on the 5-point scale, using common cutoff points. In conclusion, placement and presentation of annoyance questions within a questionnaire, as well as the time of the year a survey is carried out, have small but demonstrable effects on the degree of self-reported noise annoyance.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/11/1163/pdf

Effects of Scale, Question Location, Order of Response Alternatives, and Season on Self-Reported Noise Annoyance Using ICBEN Scales: A Field Experiment.

Since the previous review of Stansfeld and Lercher (2003) there has been modest but continuing interest in the mental health effects of noise over the last five years (2003-2008). In particular the aspect of noise sensitivity has been studied more extensively in this period. Also recent results of longitudinal studies around major airports and the so called LARES (Large Analysis and Review of European housing and health Status) study shed more light on the relationship between noise and mental health, and the role of mediating factors. In children the effect of noise on hyperactive symptoms was confirmed and an effect of noise on subjective health symptoms found in several studies. A few studies placed both theoretically and empirically the relationship between noise and mental health in a broader context of soundscapes and environmental quality. Especially of interest is the increasing attention for the restorative function of quiet and green areas in particular, where mental health effects are concerned.

/pdf/environmental-noise-and-mental-health-five-year-review-and-48o0tnh8nk.pdf

Kurt Müller

Papers

Effects of Aircraft Noise on Noise Annoyance and Quality of Life around Frankfurt Airport