A recent study suggests that exposure to aircraft noise during the day has a greater impact on cognitive ability in children than sleep-disruption caused by exposure to aircraft noise

The study brought together evidence on the relationship between environmental noise and health effects and provided estimates of the health impacts based on existing knowledge of the relationships between exposure and health. This was achieved using DALYs (disability-adjusted life years), which combine potential years lost from premature death with healthy years lost through disease and illness. It focussed on the impacts of cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance, tinnitus and annoyance. Annoyance was included because the WHO defines health as being a ‘state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing’. For some impacts, estimates could only be provided for certain parts of Europe and/or age groups owing to available data.