Comparative Study of the Effect of Aircraft Noise on Emotional States Between Airport Neighboring and City Residents

Background Environmental factors have a dominant impact on health especially aircraft noise is one of the environmental factors, which have a strong effect on emotional states. Objectives The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of aircraft noise on emotional states between airport neighboring and city residents in Zahedan City, Iran. Methods The sample size of this study consisted of 200 residents of Zahedan city (100 city residents and 100 residents from airport neighboring) that were selected through the convenience sampling method. To collect the data, depression, anxiety, and stress scale-21 (DASS-12) was used. Data were analyzed by one-way MANOVA using SPSS version 16. Results Results showed that there were significant differences regarding anxiety, stress and overall scores of DASS between airport neighboring and city residents in Zahedan city. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding depression. Conclusions Findings of this study show that aircraft noise has a negative effect on the level of emotional states and it increases the amount of anxiety, stress, and overall scores of DASS among the neighboring residents of International Airport of Zahedan city.