Aircraft noise, hearing ability, and annoyance

Journal Article · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Archives of Environmental Health

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/00039896.1995.9935982· OSTI ID:443614

Wu, Trong-Neng ^[1]; Lai, Jim Shoung ^[2]; Shen, Chen-Yang ^[3]

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1. Department of Health, Taipei (Taiwan, Province of China)
2. Chinese Medical University, Taipei (Taiwan, Province of China)
3. Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Taipei (Taiwan, Province of China); and others

The relationship between aircraft noise, loss of hearing, and annoyance was explored in a study in two schools located near an international airport in Taiwan. Sixth-grade students (N = 242) were recruited from two schools and were classified into high-and low-noise-exposure groups, based on environmental noise measurements. Person-equivalent 24-h noise exposure was measured to determine noise exposure at the individual level, and it was compared with hearing threshold level and with aircraft noise measured at the environmental level. Individual hearing threshold levels did not differ between environmental high- and low-noise-exposure groups, as evidenced by the lack of difference between the two groups for noise exposure measured at the individual level. However, the proportion of students who were annoyed by aircraft noise was higher in the environmental high-noise-exposure group, although personal 24-h noise exposure was not a factor for annoyance. The results indicated that environmental noise measurement was not an appropriate criterion for assessment of auditory damage (or noise-induced hearing loss) in Taiwan. As well, aircraft-noise exposure in Taiwan did not appear to affect the hearing threshold but nonetheless annoyed school children near the airport. 21 refs., 3 tabs.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 443614
• Journal Information: Archives of Environmental Health, Journal Name: Archives of Environmental Health Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 50; ISSN 0003-9896; ISSN AEHLAU
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
AIRCRAFT
AUDITORY ORGANS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CHILDREN
NOISE