Comments
from Professor Colleen Moore
Submitted to the Dane County Regional Airport Noise Abatement
Subcommittee
April, 2004
Dear Chair White:
Below I present an "executive summary" of the health effects of
noise.
Most of these effects are not considered by the FAA in regulating
aircraft noise, even though these are consensus scientific findings.
I
am unable to attend the meetings of the Noise Abatement Subcommittee
to
present these comments in person, so I am submitting this to the
committee via email. I would be happy to provide a technical
presentation of the basis for the summary below at some future date,
or
I could send a xerox of the noise chapter from an academic book that
covers exactly the points I have covered below. My qualifications
for
preparing this summary are that I have been teaching about noise
impacts as part of one of my courses at the UW-Madison for over 10
years, and I am the author of a recent book that includes the
impacts
of noise on health.
As
airport traffic grows, noise impacts increase. This is not a matter
of
a few 'whining' residents who are angry at the airport. The health
effects of aircraft noise have been documented in research conducted
in
many parts of the world. Furthermore, there is no discernible
threshold
for the effects of noise. Lower noise means better quality of life.
Because of the health effects outlined below, any plan that reduces
aircraft noise in Madison over the long run should be pursued avidly
by
the Dane County Board as well as the administrators of the airport.
I
support the points outlined in the letter from the SASY Neighborhood
Association to County Executive Falk in October 2002.
Executive Summary of the
Health Impacts of Aircraft Noise
(prepared by Colleen F. Moore, Professor, UW-Psychology Dept.,
affiliation for information purposes only -- I represent only myself
in
writing this)
I. Children's reading scores are lower in neighborhoods and schools
with high aircraft noise compared to lower noise neighborhoods of
comparable socio-economic background. This has been found in the US,
Britain, and Germany. The latest data come from a long-term study of
children growing up near the new and old airports in Munich,
Germany. Also, school teachers working in high noise schools
sometimes have to entirely stop a lesson because of aircraft
flyovers.
II. Children in high noise neighborhoods show higher blood pressure
and
higher stress hormones compared to those from lower noise
neighborhoods
of comparable socio-economic background. This finding comes from
studies near LA International Airport and also from the Munich
airport
studies.
III. The Health Council of the Netherlands reviewed research in 1999
and concluded that, in addition to having a negative effect on
children's school performance, that aircraft noise is also linked to
hypertension, ischemic heart disease, sleep disturbance, and
negative
mood as a result of sleep disruption in adults. The United Kingdom
Institute for Environment and Health drew similar conclusions about
noise and health in 1997.
IV. The FAA's standard way of assessing the community impact of
noise
is inadequate. The FAA uses the "Schultz curve" for predicting noise
annoyance from noise exposure. From the Schultz curve, the FAA has
concluded that a cutoff of DNL 65 is equivalent to a 'noise
impact'. The Schultz curve fails to separate different sources
of
transportation noise, fails to consider the fact that speech is
disrupted at noise levels below 65, fails to consider peak noise
events, and totally omits the health effects I have listed above in
items I, II and III except for sleep disturbance. The Schultz curve
has
been rejected as inadequate by the best recent research on noise
annoyance. The latest comprehensive meta-analysis of noise annoyance
(published in 1998) has concluded that the FAA's Schultz curve
underestimates noise annoyance by approximately 10 dB. The
implication
of all of this is that Dane County should seek to implement
operational
changes at the airport that will minimize the impacts of noise on
the
health of residents.
More information is available from Professor Moore at: http://psych.wisc.edu/moore/
also: http://www.childrenandpollution.org/ChildrenPollution/ChildrenAndPollution/more_info.html