Aircraft Noise and Public Health: Acoustical Measurement and Social Survey Around Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport
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AIRCRAFT NOISE AND PUBLIC HEALTH: ACOUSTICAL MEASUREMENT AND SOCIAL SURVEY AROUND SYDNEY (KINGSFORD SMITH) AIRPORT By Tharit Issarayangyun Bachelor of Civil Engineering (second honour), Master of Civil Engineering A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SCHOOL OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA March, 2005 PLEASE TYPE THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Project Report Sheet Surname or Family name: ISSARAYANGYUN First name: THARIT Other name/s: Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: PhD School: Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty: Engineering Title: Aircraft Noise and Public Health: Acoustical Measurement and Social Survey around Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) The development of major commercial airports promotes the air transport industry and generates positive economic benefits to the airport and to its host economy. However, external costs are associated with these benefits. Any increase in aircraft movement causes negative environmental impacts, especially noise pollution. Governments have reduced aircraft noise levels at their sources, or introduced aircraft noise management strategies; however the problems have never been satisfactorily resolved. This research aims at developing a better understanding of the impacts of aircraft noise on community health and well-being by exploring two core research questions: (1) “Is health related quality of life worse in communities chronically exposed to aircraft noise than in communities not exposed?”; and (2) “Does long-term aircraft noise exposure associate with adult high blood pressure level via noise stress as a mediating factor?”. The Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport has been selected as a case study. The health survey instruments have been developed and piloted, and then translated from English into Greek and Arabic. A postal self-administrative health survey (with follow-up letters) has been implemented in the areas surrounding Sydney Airport (called “aircraft noise exposure group”) and in the matched control group. The total sample size was 1,500 with 47% response rate. This thesis has developed a ‘new’ noise index (named Noise Gap Index, NGI) to describe and assess aircraft noise in such a way that is easily understood by the layperson. Factorial analysis of covariance revealed that “Health related quality of life, in term of physical functioning, general health, vitality, and mental health, of community chronically exposed to high aircraft noise level were worse than the matched control area”. Binary logistic regression analysis found that “Subjects (aged 15 – 87) who have been chronically exposed to high aircraft noise level have the odds of 2.61 of having chronic noise stress. In addition, person who have chronic noise stress have the odds of 2.74 of having hypertension compared with those without chronic noise stress”. Finally, the robust hypotheses of effects of aircraft noise on community health and well-being for future experimental study were proposed. Declaration relating to disposition of project report/thesis I am fully aware of the policy of the University relating to the retention and use of higher degree project reports and theses, namely that the University retains the copies submitted for examination and is free to allow them to be consulted or borrowed. Subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968, the University may issue a project report or thesis in whole or in part, in Photostat or microfilm or other copying medium. I also authorise the publication by University Microfilms of a 350 word abstract in Dissertation Abstracts International (applicable to doctorates only). ………………………………………… ……………………………………. …………………………………….. 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FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: Registrar and Deputy Principal THIS SHEET IS TO BE GLUED TO THE INSIDE FRONT COVER OF THE THESIS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, excepts where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. (Signed)…………………………………………………………….. Tharit Issarayangyun ABSTRACT The development of major commercial airports promotes the air transport industry and generates positive economic benefits to the airport and to its host economy. However, external costs are associated with these benefits. Any increase in aircraft movement causes negative environmental impacts, especially noise pollution. The public reaction to aircraft noise has been vigorous. Efforts have been made to reduce aircraft noise levels at their source, or to implement aircraft noise management strategy. However, the problems have never been satisfactorily resolved as long as the growth of the air transport market remains high. The issue of community health and well-being has been ignored by aircraft noise management strategies possibly because ‘health’ has been interpreted as just only the absence of disease. Even though no evidence has been found to support the proposition that aircraft noise is loud enough to significantly deteriorate the hearing of people living around the commercial airports, it is obvious that everyday aircraft noise exposure deteriorates quality of life by disturbing daily activities which can be a cause of chronic emotional stress. Evidence is emerging that appears to associate some forms of health risk with this stress. This thesis studies association between community health and well-being and aircraft noise exposure by applying the concept of transdisciplinary thinking and a definition of ‘health’ declared by World Health Organisation (WHO) “Health is not only the absence of disease, but also includes a state of complete in physical, mental, and social well- being”. The literature review of possible interconnections of disciplinary knowledge about impacts of aircraft noise on community health helps establish research gaps, leading to two core research questions: firstly, “Is health related quality of life worse in communities chronically exposed to aircraft noise than in communities not exposed?”; and secondly, “Does long-term aircraft noise exposure associate with adult high blood pressure level via noise stress as a mediating factor?”. i This thesis selects a descriptive epidemiology of cross-sectional study with a control group as an epidemiological method. A comprehensive health survey instrument for the evaluation of effects of aircraft noise on health related quality of life and adult hypertension has been developed for a postal self-administrative technique. The health survey instruments consist of questionnaire, cover letter, first follow-up letter, second follow-up letter, third follow-up letter, envelop, return envelop, and follow-up procedures. The questionnaire measures seven major characteristics of each subject: 1) health related quality of life; 2) prevalence of hypertension; 3) noise stress; 4) noise sensitivity; 5) noise annoyance; 6) confounding factors; and 7) demographic characteristics. Some scales from the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36v2) have been employed to measure health related quality of life of each subject. The selected scales included Physical Functioning, General Health, Vitality, and Mental Health. The performance of the health survey instruments and the internal reliability of noise stress scale and noise sensitivity scale have been checked by the pilot study. Residents around Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport were selected as a case study. The study population was defined as two groups: aircraft noise exposure group; and a control group. The aircraft noise exposure group includes many suburbs around Sydney Airport where the average annual day of N70 in 2003 was higher than fifty. The control group was located in Western Sydney (approximately 55 kilometres from Sydney Airport) where jet noise is barely detectable, and where the socio-economic status of this area is comparable with the aircraft noise exposure group. The N70 was selected because the current practice of Australian Noise Exposure Forecast is insufficient to reflect people reactions to aircraft noise. The N70 was designed from a concept of transparency in aircraft noise information. The sample size is 750 subjects per study group, calculated from an expected response rate from the pilot study and the statistical power of SF-36. Every home address (excluding apartments,