A REVIEW OF HEALTH-EFFECTS OF AIRCRAFT NOISE

Social surveys have established dose-response relationships between ai rcraft noise and annoyance, with a number of psychological symptoms be ing positively related to annoyance. Evidence that exposure to aircraf t noise is associated with higher psychiatric hospital admission rates is mixed. Some evidence exists of an association between aircraft noi se exposure and use of psychotropic medications. People with a pre-exi sting psychological or psychiatric condition may be more susceptible t o the effects of exposure to aircraft noise. Aircraft noise can produc e effects on electroencephalogram sleep patterns and cause wakefulness and difficulty in sleeping. Attendances at general practitioners, sel f-reported health problems and use of medications, have been associate d with exposure to aircraft noise, but some findings are inconsistent. Some association between aircraft noise exposure and elevated mean bl ood pressure has been observed in cross-sectional studies of schoolchi ldren, but with little confirmation from cohort studies. There is no c onvincing evidence to suggest that all-cause or cause-specific mortali ty is increased by exposure to aircraft noise. There is no strong evid ence that aircraft noise has significant perinatal effects. Using the World Health Organization definition of health, which includes positiv e mental and social wellbeing, aircraft noise is responsible for consi derable ill-health. However, population-based studies have not found s trong evidence that people living near or under aircraft flight paths suffer higher rates of clinical morbidity or mortality as a consequenc e of exposure to aircraft noise. A dearth of high quality studies in t his area precludes drawing substantive conclusions.