Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, College of Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Al-Khoudh, P.C. 123, Muscat, Oman.
Ministry of Labour, P.O. Box 413, PC 100, Muscat, Oman.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Sep;28(33):45596-45608. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-13891-w. Epub 2021 Apr 19.
There is adequate evidence from epidemiological studies showing an association between noise exposures and incidence of cardiovascular diseases and cognitive impairment among exposed populations. This study aimed to investigate noise exposure levels in an airport region and their effects on the nearby two neighborhood communities (i.e., Al Seeb and Bawshar). To achieve this, noise levels were measured across 15 different points within the communities for more than 3 weeks at a median distance of 3.5 km from the airport runways using a sound level analyzer. In addition, we conducted an online social survey in a random sampling of a total of 913 residents who were living closer to the airport. A combination of a 5-point scale and 3-point Likert scale was used to assess the resident population's noise annoyance and the potential health impacts. The results revealed that the majority of the measured points have noise levels (55.71-65.24 L dBA) exceeding both Oman and WHO critical limits. There was a general decrease in noise levels at points further away from the runways; thus, at points 2.5, 4.8, and 8.8 km, sound pressure levels were found to be 63.08, 57.41, and 52.31 dBA, respectively. However, steady noise levels were observed throughout most of the daily (24 h) measurements indicating continual exposures. Overall, 44.6% of residents reported noise annoyance level as very high, with Al Seeb inhabitants (46%) eliciting a greater percentage of annoyance levels compared to Bawshar (5%) due to their closer proximity to the airport. Also, the noise was significantly (p ˂ 0.001) associated with sleep disturbance, insomnia, irritation, and frightening. The majority of the residents complained of an increase in insomnia (41.5%), stress (34.3%), headache (47.3%), and cardiovascular diseases (16.2%). With the question of reducing noise exposures, about 41% of the respondents have plans of relocating to distant areas with low noise levels.
有充分的证据表明，流行病学研究表明，在暴露人群中，噪声暴露与心血管疾病和认知障碍的发病率之间存在关联。本研究旨在调查机场区域的噪声暴露水平及其对附近两个社区（即阿尔西卜和巴沙尔）的影响。为此，在距离机场跑道 3.5 公里的中位数距离内，使用声级计在社区内的 15 个不同点测量了超过 3 周的噪声水平。此外，我们对居住在机场附近的总共 913 名居民进行了随机抽样的在线社会调查。采用 5 点刻度和 3 点李克特量表相结合的方法，评估居民的噪声烦恼程度和潜在的健康影响。结果表明，大多数测量点的噪声水平（55.71-65.24 L dBA）均超过阿曼和世卫组织的临界限值。随着距离跑道越来越远，噪声水平普遍下降；因此，在 2.5、4.8 和 8.8 公里处，声压级分别为 63.08、57.41 和 52.31 dBA。然而，在大多数 24 小时测量中，都观察到稳定的噪声水平，表明持续暴露。总体而言，44.6%的居民报告噪声烦扰程度为非常高，由于靠近机场，阿尔西卜居民（46%）比巴沙尔居民（5%）表现出更大比例的烦扰程度。此外，噪声与睡眠障碍、失眠、烦躁和惊吓显著相关（p ˂ 0.001）。大多数居民抱怨失眠（41.5%）、压力（34.3%）、头痛（47.3%）和心血管疾病（16.2%）增加。在减少噪声暴露的问题上，约 41%的受访者计划搬迁到噪声水平较低的偏远地区。
