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The Unbearable Menace — Airport Noise

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A 1972 University of Washington environmental health report examines the serious health impacts of aircraft noise on residents living near Seattle-Tacoma Airport, including sleep disturbance, psychological effects, and interference with speech in schools. Noise measurements taken at four locations near the airport recorded up to 95 dBA, with dozens of flyovers exceeding 75 dBA even during nighttime sleeping hours, levels researchers considered potentially hazardous to mental and physical health. The report also highlights special risks for vulnerable groups such as young children, the elderly, the sick, and night-shift workers.

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Environmental Health & Safety News newsletter (Volume 20, Nos. 9-12, September–December 1972) from the Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, directed by James McCarroll M.D. and edited by Peter A. Breysse. Covers airport noise as a public health hazard, including psychologic and physiologic effects of noise exposure, disturbance of sleep (citing Jensen and Thiessen studies, dBA thresholds of 40–70 dBA), interference with speech in schools using Preferred Speech Interference Level (PSIL), and a noise survey conducted near Seattle-Tacoma Airport (Sea-Tac Airport) measuring flyovers at Zone 2/Zone 3 boundary locations with peak levels reaching 91–95 dBA during sleeping hours (10 p.m.–7 a.m.). FHA mortgage insurance ineligibility for Zone 3 homes also discussed.

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