Concern and noise annoyance living near a NATO AWACS airbase

The reason for this study was the concern among members of the Commission AWACS Limburg (CAL) and the Dutch parliament in response to results of an investigation by the Municipal Health Service South Limburg. In particular,... [ view full abstract ]

The reason for this study was the concern among members of the Commission AWACS Limburg (CAL) and the Dutch parliament in response to results of an investigation by the Municipal Health Service South Limburg. In particular, there was concern about the long-term exposure to (peak) sound from military aircraft on well-being and health of the population in the Dutch region around the airbase Geilenkirchen.

We designed a study with different research methods (questionnaires, mortality research, risk assessment). The study was based on data already collected.

The well-being and health effects studied were annoyance, reading ability, self-reported health (including health status), hypertension, cardiovascular disease and premature death.
The number of severe annoyed residents is still high. In the region around the airbase Geilenkirchen about 13,000 of the approximately 220,000 adult residents are severely annoyed. Especially residents of municipalities near the airbase like Onderbanken, Brunssum and Schinnen experience noise annoyance. Self - reported health did not show an association with exposure to noise from military aircrafts. Around the airbase Geilenkirchen, it is estimated that one additional child has a reading ability impairment due to military aircraft noise, out of 272 children with a reading impairment. About 33 people have high blood pressure, resulting in three additional cases of cardiovascular disease over the next 20 years in relation to military aircraft noise. There is an increased risk for death due to stroke in the area with the highest exposure to military aircraft noise. However, there is no evidence of an exposure-response relation.

The extent of the noise annoyance as a result of exposure to military air traffic has also decreased between 2002 and 2012 (from 10.8 to 6.1 % ) but is still high. An increased risk of premature mortality from stroke was observed, but whether this is due to aircraft noise or not cannot be determined with certainty on the basis of this study given the relative small size of the exposed population over 50 dB(A) and the lack of individual data on life-style factors.

The results provide sufficient grounds for a meaningful follow-up study into the relationship between exposure to noise from military air traffic and noise annoyance, for example, the role of contextual factors (e.g. noise sensitivity , future expectations of the environmental quality, attitudes towards the airbase or trust in governmental organizations ) using questionnaire or diary methods.