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A German study released on Thursday showed noise created by low-flying planes does not raise the blood pressure of people on the ground, however it that constant loud transport noise can lead to depression.
The finding, announced in Germany's principal air cargo and passenger hub Frankfurt, is a setback to citizens who argue that hearing jets overhead causes early death. They are also campaigning to limit noise along airport flight paths.
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Using an acronym for Noise-Related Annoyance, Cognition and Health, the five-year NORAH study focused on 2 500 people in each of three German cities. The blood pressure of 844 participants was closely tracked, and health insurance records of 1 million people were also analysed.
The study confirmed that constant loud transport noise can lead to depression and reduces the ability of children to learn.
The authors said too little attention had been paid in the past to the psychological effects of repeated exposure to noise.
Noise from flight routes and railway lines is a divisive political issue in Germany, pitting supporters of economic growth against residents who say noise has become the worst blight of city life. The study was ordered in a bid to bring more facts into the debate.
Frankfurt is as vital to German exporters as it is to Chinese firms that need to courier products to Europe rapidly. In 2011, the airport was ordered to shut for six hours for every night, angering business lobbies.
Johann-Dietrich Woerner, a board member of the government-funded Frankfurt Forum on the Airport and the Region that commissioned the study, said it was the most comprehensive analysis worldwide on the effects of transport noise on health and quality of life.
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