A Review of the Literature Related to Potential Health Effects of Aircraft Noise

013430952010Final ReportPDFTech ReportPARTNER-COE-2010-003Literature reviewsAircraft noiseHealthCardiovascular systemHypertensionSleepStress (Physiology)Research HubFuture researchSleep disturbanceAviationEnvironmentSafety and Human FactorsI15: EnvironmentNoiseUnited StatesPartnership for Air Transportation Noise and Emissions ReductionSwift, HalesPartnership for Air Transportation Noise and Emissions ReductionUnited States. Federal Aviation Administration. Office of Environment and EnergyUS Transportation CollectionThis literature survey emphasizes cardiovascular outcomes and the potential pathways from aircraft noise to health outcomes for possible cardiovascular endpoints. Two potential pathways are discussed: sleep disruption and noise-induced stress, because both have been related to possible cardiovascular outcomes. Researchers have shown nighttime aircraft noise to be more highly correlated to health impacts than twenty-four hour or daytime noise, and have found that observed effects in road noise studies have become stronger when house orientation and window opening habits at night have been taken into account. Research into health effects of industrial noise exposure as well as health effects associated with annoyance from community noise suggests that stress reactions, such as arousal of the cardiovascular system in response to a loud noise, may lead to negative cardiovascular outcomes as well. It has been proposed that repeated short-term increases of blood pressure and heart rate associated with these reactions may lead to changes in the functioning of the cardiovascular system and eventual hypertension. Thus, both sleep and stress, because they have been proposed as pathways leading from noise exposure to eventual cardiovascular outcomes, are of interest and have been focused on in this report. The last two chapters of this report include a discussion of unanswered questions and ideas and recommendations for future research that would: (1) help further elucidate the relationship between aircraft noise and health; and (2) provide decision makers with the tools that they need to optimize policy with regards to noise producing infrastructure in order to minimize negative health outcomes. Additionally, ways to conduct studies that might help address these unanswered questions and the feasibility of those approaches are also discussed