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Josette Lincourt uses a decibel meter to measure the noise level of plane passing over her apartment building.

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Measuring effects of flight noise

Residents concerned about health effects

Julia Kilpatrick
The Gazette
Thursday, July 24, 2008

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Josette Lincourt uses a decibel meter to measure the noise level of plane passing over her apartment building.

Josette Lincourt had concerns about the health impacts of living close to Dorval airport long before she read about a 10-year study in the U.S. that showed more cases of heart and lung disease among residents near Logan Airport in Massachusetts.
“My immediate reaction was that somebody, somewhere is doing something to find out what this scourge is doing to airport neighbours,” said Lincourt, whose main concern is the damaging effect of nighttime noise.
The St. Laurent resident said she’s measured nighttime airplane noise at 60 decibels inside her apartment – about the same volume as a normal conversation. (Hearing damage begins at around 85 decibels, while the standard noise level at airports registers around 100 decibels, and a jet engine can reach 160 decibels.)
“There are places (where people) have understood that this is damaging,” Lincourt said. “I see all these schools around here – there are so many youngsters around and this may affect them for the rest of their lives.”
Lincourt’s concerns are shared by many of the residents of Dorval, Pointe Claire and St. Laurent, where a report from the Aéroports de Montréal shows that aircraft noise has consistently been measured at around 60 decibels since 2002.
On July 4, Dorval resident Paul Wilkinson wrote a letter to federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon about the health effects of noise from night flights. He hasn’t yet received a response.
“We know for a fact that night flights are causing problems for residents because they’re losing sleep,” said Wilkinson, spokesperson for the non-profit group Citizens for a Quality of Life.
Night flights are a major concern in Europe, where the World Health Organization estimates that 3.6 million people are exposed to high levels of noise from flights between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. According to the WHO,  noise levels above 30 decibels  disrupt sleeping patterns. Sleep disruption has been linked to physical conditions like hypertension and depression, and behavioural problems, including increased risk of accidents, poor academic performance and substance abuse.
Wilkinson said his group is asking for “a full and public inquiry that will include consultations with the public.” He expressed frustration over the apparent conflict of interest arising from a system where complaints about airport noise go first to Aéroports de Montréal, which is then supposed to pass them along to Transport Canada.
“We look at the validity of the complaints and we act upon them if they’re founded,” said Normand Boivin, vice-president of airport operations at Trudeau. According to Boivin, the ADM takes a more aggressive approach to limiting noise pollution than Transport Canada requires.
“What we want to do is keep lowering noise levels around Montreal for ever and ever,” he said.
An ADM report shows that Montreal Trudeau’s “noise footprint” extended 81.9 square kilometres in 1995 and affected 107,333 residents of that area. By 2006, it affected 16,832 people living within 32.2 square kilometres of the airport.
Dorval mayor Edgar Rouleau recently launched a petition to ban night flights to and from the international airport.
But Boivin said an outright ban is not an option.
“That would set an international precedent,” he said. “If we were to stop operating at night, we would pull ourselves out of the (air transportation industry) network.”

Studies have found link between noise and health

 A study of 4,861 people living for five years or longer near major European airports linked ongoing exposure to nighttime airport and traffic noise to elevated blood pressure and risk of heart disease and stroke. In another study, 140 people living near European airports were found to have elevated blood pressure while sleeping when exposed to night-time noise over 35 decibels.
Residents of communities within an eight-kilometre radius of the Logan airport near Boston, Massachusetts have been found to have higher rates of heart disease, asthma and lung cancer than those in other parts of the state. The 10-year study began in 2000, and official results will be released next year.

In a study of 3,000 nine- and 10-year-olds living in the U.K., Spain and the Netherlands, researchers at the University of London found that ongoing exposure to airplane noise led to difficulties with reading comprehension and recognition memory, as well as increased levels of stress and fatigue.