Photo by Adorjani Hunor
An interesting read from Cypress Hansen in Knowledgeable Magazine (picked up by both The Atlantic and BBC Future):
www.knowablemagazine.org/article/health-disease/2021/how-noise-pollution-affects-heart-health
From the article:
“… The new runway also channeled dozens of aircraft directly over the house of Thomas Münzel, a cardiologist at the University Medical Center of Mainz. "I have lived close to the German Autobahn and close to inner city train tracks," he says. "Aircraft noise is the most annoying by far." Münzel had read a 2009 World Health Organization (WHO) report linking noise to heart problems, but evidence at the time was thin. Driven in part by concern for his own health, in 2011 he shifted the focus of his research to learn more.
Exposure to loud noise has long been linked with hearing loss. But the ruckus of planes and cars takes a toll beyond the ears. Traffic noise has been flagged as a major physiological stressor, second to air pollution and on roughly equal footing with exposure to second-hand smoke and radon.”
The article further explains how studies link chronic exposure to environmental noise to an increased risk of heart-related troubles, and strokes:
“People living near the Frankfurt Airport, for example, have as much as a 7% higher risk of stroke than those living in similar but quieter neighbourhoods, according to a 2018 study that investigated health data of more than one million people. An analysis of nearly 25,000 cardiovascular deaths between 2000 and 2015 among people living near Switzerland's Zurich Airport saw significant increases in night time mortality after airplane flyovers, especially among women, a team reported recently in the European Heart Journal.”
That noise is a nuisance and can be harmful to our health probably doesn’t come as a surprise for anyone, but even the researchers were surprised at how fast the detrimental effects showed up:
“Studies on people and mice show that the endothelium doesn't work as well after just a few days of night time airplane noise exposure, suggesting that loud noise isn't a concern only for people already at risk for heart and metabolic problems. Healthy adults subjected to train recordings as they slumbered had impaired blood vessel function almost immediately, according to a 2019 study by Münzel and his colleagues.
"We were surprised that young people, after hearing these sounds for just one night, had endothelial dysfunction," says Münzel, who also co-authored a review of noise and cardiovascular health. "We always thought this was something that takes years to develop."”
Some staggering numbers:
“A 2018 report by the WHO noted that each year, western Europeans are collectively losing more than 1.6 million years of healthy life because of traffic noise. This calculation is based on the number of premature deaths caused directly by noise exposure as well as the years lived with noise-induced disability or illness.”
While the climate emergency we’re currently in is our main reason to stay on the ground, the noise from airplanes is surely something we would love to hear a lot less of, in general (no surprises here)!