kwkarth
Electronics guys... we have our plusses and minuses. With advent of digital everything, we're being phased out
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Are Flight Paths Runways to Heart Disease?
Tuesday, November 27, 2001; Page HE03
While fear of a plane's plowing into a residential neighborhood may hound people who live near busy airports -- especially after the Nov. 12 crash in Queens, N.Y., that killed more than 260 people, including five on the ground -- a far bigger and more insidious health risk may be the daily noise of aircraft overhead.
Flight path noise has previously been blamed for problems ranging from increased stress to poor school performance. Now a new Swedish study links it to high blood pressure and subsequent heart disease.
The report in the British journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows that people who live in the highest noise zones around Stockholm Arlanda Airport are 80 percent more likely to report having high blood pressure than those who live farther away.
Investigators studied two groups: 266 lived in areas where average daily aircraft noise levels exceeded 50 decibels (dBs); another 2,700 resided in quieter outlying counties. In the noisier areas, researchers recorded noise bursts of 70 dBs and up -- as loud as heavy traffic or a hair dryer -- at least three times daily.
After controlling for factors such as diet, exercise and smoking, the researchers found that in areas with average daily aircraft noise above 55 dBs, or with maximum noise levels over 72 dBs, 20 percent of participants reported having high blood pressure, compared with 14 percent among those exposed to less noise. There was no difference in risk between men and women, but older people and those with good hearing appeared more vulnerable.
Study author Mats Rosenlund of Stockholm's Karolinska Hospital speculated that the erratic cycle of takeoffs and landings disturbed cognitive functions, caused emotional reactions or interfered with mental tasks, relaxation or sleep.
How loud are Washington's airports? Data collected by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and released in February by the watchdog group Citizens for the Abatement of Aircraft Noise (CAAN) showed that average daily noise levels exceeded 55 dBs -- the Federal Aviation Administration threshold is 65 dBs -- for 24 of the 32 neighborhoods monitored over three years. (The data cover areas near Reagan National and Dulles International, but not Baltimore-Washington International.)
Since Sept. 11, tightened security may have increased those numbers for communities beneath Reagan National flight paths, even though flights have been cut by more than half. Where rules used to allow takeoffs to follow the Potomac and throttle back engines for a slower, quieter climb, says CAAN spokesman Don MacGlashan, "now pilots must use a normal climb profile, which requires more engine power and are restricted to flight paths that take them farther from the White House and Capitol, and over more residential communities instead."
Residents in Northwest Washington's Palisades neighborhood, around Georgetown University, and in Chevy Chase may have noticed the difference, he says.
The good news is that sustained aircraft noise doesn't pose much risk to our ears. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, noise levels of up to 75 dBs, even after long exposure, are unlikely to damage hearing.
-- Martha Frase-Blunt
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
Tuesday, November 27, 2001; Page HE03
While fear of a plane's plowing into a residential neighborhood may hound people who live near busy airports -- especially after the Nov. 12 crash in Queens, N.Y., that killed more than 260 people, including five on the ground -- a far bigger and more insidious health risk may be the daily noise of aircraft overhead.
Flight path noise has previously been blamed for problems ranging from increased stress to poor school performance. Now a new Swedish study links it to high blood pressure and subsequent heart disease.
The report in the British journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows that people who live in the highest noise zones around Stockholm Arlanda Airport are 80 percent more likely to report having high blood pressure than those who live farther away.
Investigators studied two groups: 266 lived in areas where average daily aircraft noise levels exceeded 50 decibels (dBs); another 2,700 resided in quieter outlying counties. In the noisier areas, researchers recorded noise bursts of 70 dBs and up -- as loud as heavy traffic or a hair dryer -- at least three times daily.
After controlling for factors such as diet, exercise and smoking, the researchers found that in areas with average daily aircraft noise above 55 dBs, or with maximum noise levels over 72 dBs, 20 percent of participants reported having high blood pressure, compared with 14 percent among those exposed to less noise. There was no difference in risk between men and women, but older people and those with good hearing appeared more vulnerable.
Study author Mats Rosenlund of Stockholm's Karolinska Hospital speculated that the erratic cycle of takeoffs and landings disturbed cognitive functions, caused emotional reactions or interfered with mental tasks, relaxation or sleep.
How loud are Washington's airports? Data collected by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and released in February by the watchdog group Citizens for the Abatement of Aircraft Noise (CAAN) showed that average daily noise levels exceeded 55 dBs -- the Federal Aviation Administration threshold is 65 dBs -- for 24 of the 32 neighborhoods monitored over three years. (The data cover areas near Reagan National and Dulles International, but not Baltimore-Washington International.)
Since Sept. 11, tightened security may have increased those numbers for communities beneath Reagan National flight paths, even though flights have been cut by more than half. Where rules used to allow takeoffs to follow the Potomac and throttle back engines for a slower, quieter climb, says CAAN spokesman Don MacGlashan, "now pilots must use a normal climb profile, which requires more engine power and are restricted to flight paths that take them farther from the White House and Capitol, and over more residential communities instead."
Residents in Northwest Washington's Palisades neighborhood, around Georgetown University, and in Chevy Chase may have noticed the difference, he says.
The good news is that sustained aircraft noise doesn't pose much risk to our ears. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, noise levels of up to 75 dBs, even after long exposure, are unlikely to damage hearing.
-- Martha Frase-Blunt
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
