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  • Regarding Boulder Municipal Airport
  • The BDU Buzz
    • 4 Scenarios for BDU
      • Scenario 1
      • Scenario 2
      • Scenario 3
      • Scenario 4
    • Middle Income Down Payment Pilot program
    • FAA tells Boulder who's in charge
  • Boulder Municipal Airport Info
    • Surrounding BDU
    • BDU economics
    • BDU noise abatement
    • Boulder County flight school training areas
    • OSMP Soundscape
    • BDU and the Andrus bike path
    • BDU's Master Plan development
    • BDU MP archive
    • Local and State level contact information
  • Aviation Lead around Boulder County
  • General aviation topics, issues
    • Airport Master Plans and the FAA
    • Lead in aviation fuel
    • Noise
    • The 'pilot shortage' and regional airport growth
    • Regional airport economics
    • Safety, security, registration, insurance
  • National regulatory level
  • Resources
    • AFA Lead in Avgas flyer
  • Get updates & join us
  • Contact us

Noise is harmful to human health

​"'One day man will have to fight the noise as fiercely as cholera and plague,' predicted Nobel prize winner Robert Koch in 1910." 
"​Being annoyed or disturbed by aircraft noise is stressful.  Stress increases heart rate and blood pressure. Stress increases blood levels of stress hormones.  Stress causes inflammation of the blood vessel lining, in turn causing cardiovascular disease, including hypertension and heart attacks, and other adverse health effects. Scientific experts think that the evidence is strong enough to establish causality, not merely a statistical association. Epidemiological studies demonstrating these effects have been confirmed by human and animal research. The biological mechanisms are now understood at the cellular, subcellular, molecular, and genetic levels.  Aircraft noise also affects poor and minority communities more than others. Children are also more sensitive to damage from noise, which also interferes with learning."

Physiology of noise induced vascular damage is understood

"Data from a large prospective cohort study ... demonstrate that noise-induced annoyance caused by various sources during the day and at night, including aircraft, road traffic and railway noise, is dose-dependently associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation (6). Furthermore, in the Gutenberg Health Study it has been shown that the risk of depression and anxiety increases with increasing noise annoyance (6, 7), which in turn may negatively affect the cardiovascular system."
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"There is annually a loss of more than one million healthy life years in Western Europe, measured on the basis of disability-adjusted life years, due to traffic noise-induced diseases (3). In recent years, noise research has made substantial progress, particularly with regard to relevant clinical studies as well as pathophysiological mechanisms that may play an important role in noise-induced cardiovascular effects.   Research on cardiovascular disease and the link with noise. ​

From the World Health Organization

"In 1999, in an attempt to achieve a balance between health hazards for communities near airports with current and proposed developments, the WHO Charter on Transport and Environmental Health recommended that the health of the community should be put first when considering transport since adverse environmental effects fall disproportionately on the vulnerable, particularly children, and the infirm and older people.

It also recommended the “polluter pays” principle; the commonly accepted practice whereby those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it to prevent damage to human health or the environment. ...

Unfortunately, this charter seems to have had little effect, since in practice little notice has been taken of it when planning airport expansion and introducing airspace changes. Health impact assessments, if they were carried out, lacked transparency as they were often undertaken by airport operators. Seemingly there has been a reluctance to protect the health of the population in the face of commercial pressures pursuing economic benefits."

Noise impact on wildlife

Many people argue that aircraft traffic should be directed over uninhabited areas.   By this they mean uninhabited by people.   But the truth is that wildlife is also negatively impacted by noise (and lead).  

Wildlife relies on hearing to find food and mates and avoid predators.  Research has shown a diminished capability by birds to find food in the presence of noise. Also, birds exposed to persistent loud noise show symptoms remarkably similar to those in humans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Boulder County, located at the plains/mountain interface, is a unique, ecologically sensitive area.  With five climatic zones ranging from planes to alpine, the range of wildlife is broad.  Shunting aircraft over these areas is just another burden for our already highly stressed wildlife.    Doing so for recreation or convenience just isn't right.

References

Grady, Nelson, Levy, Airplane noise may be bad for your health, This research was funded by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Munzel, Hahad, Daiber, "Research on cardiovascular disease and the link with noise."

​House of Lords, Science and Technology Committee, "The neglected pollutants: the effects of artifical light and noise on human health."

European Union Against Aircraft Nuisances, "Aircraft noise increases risk of heart disease and strokes."

From the Harvard School of Public Health, "Aircraft noise linked with heart problems."

Acoustical Society of America, "The FAA allows Americans to be exposed to unsafe levels of aircraft noise."

Banatvala, Peachey, Munzel, "The harms to health caused by aviation noise require urgent action."

​The Conversation, "Can noise pollution damage your health?"

Florida Museum, "Noise pollution causes chronic stress in birds, with health consequences for the young."

BBC News, "Traffic noise impairs songbirds' abilities."
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  • Regarding Boulder Municipal Airport
  • The BDU Buzz
    • 4 Scenarios for BDU
      • Scenario 1
      • Scenario 2
      • Scenario 3
      • Scenario 4
    • Middle Income Down Payment Pilot program
    • FAA tells Boulder who's in charge
  • Boulder Municipal Airport Info
    • Surrounding BDU
    • BDU economics
    • BDU noise abatement
    • Boulder County flight school training areas
    • OSMP Soundscape
    • BDU and the Andrus bike path
    • BDU's Master Plan development
    • BDU MP archive
    • Local and State level contact information
  • Aviation Lead around Boulder County
  • General aviation topics, issues
    • Airport Master Plans and the FAA
    • Lead in aviation fuel
    • Noise
    • The 'pilot shortage' and regional airport growth
    • Regional airport economics
    • Safety, security, registration, insurance
  • National regulatory level
  • Resources
    • AFA Lead in Avgas flyer
  • Get updates & join us
  • Contact us