Health Effects of Noise Exposure

Exposure to noise levels above 85 dBA for 8 hours is the Federal threshold for hearing protection. Levels above 90 dBA can cause permanent hearing loss with relatively short exposure.

Noise in the environment or community seriously affects people, interfering with the daily activities at school or work and at home and during leisure time. WHO guidelines identify the main health risks of noise:

• pain and hearing fatigue;
• hearing impairment including tinnitus;
• annoyance;
• interferences with social behavior (aggressiveness, protest and helplessness);
• interference with speech communication;
• sleep disturbance and all its consequences on a long and short term basis;
• cardiovascular effects;
• hormonal responses (stress hormones) and their possible consequences on human metabolism (nutrition) and immune system;
• performance at work and/or school decrements.

The World Health Organization has placed guidelines for community noise on the Internet.

The World Health Organization specifically discusses the issue of Aircraft noise and children.

For the last 3 years (2002, 2003 and 2004) researchers at Queen Mary, University of London have carried out the largest study on the effects of long-term exposure to noise on children’s health to date, examining almost 3,000 children living in the UK, Spain and the Netherlands.

That study found that: Aircraft noise exposure was related to impaired performance in reading comprehension and recognition memory. The reading age in children exposed to high levels of aircraft noise was delayed by up to two months in the UK for a five decibel change in noise exposure.