Communication and engagement offer potential means to mitigating noise-related annoyance, reveals the latest ANIMA result
Aviation noise standards are seriously by the most recent WHO recommendations
March 14, 2019
One and a half years into its lifespan, Horizon 2020 project ANIMA completes an assessment into the complex relationship between aviation noise and health, together with a set of recommendations.
During a meeting held between 11 and 13 March 2019 hosted by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ, Slovenia) partners of the project from all over Europe discussed the reviews conducted and the proposed recommendations.
The review on noise annoyance impacts carried out by the ANIMA project highlights the importance of addressing reported annoyance and sleep disturbance as critical outcomes, confirming WHO findings. In October 2018, the World Health Organisation published the WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region, featuring significant recommendations and deeming noise as a health risk rather than a health nuisance. ANIMA researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University in collaboration with the Centre for Applied Psychology, Social and Environmental Research (ZEUS) in Germany, the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) of Slovenia and the Romanian Research Institute for Gas Turbines (COMOTI), reviewed and updated the studies at the core of these guidelines. As its main outcome, the ANIMA review supports the idea that there may be associations between aircraft noise exposure and ischaemic heart disease, annoyance, reading and oral comprehension as well as sleep disturbance during the night. The review also substantiates that sleep disturbance, annoyance and certain long-term health outcomes are connected, thus sleep disturbance and reported annoyance may be mediators of some adverse physical and mental health impacts.