Residential noise exposure and health: Evidence from aviation noise and birth outcomes

Utilizing information on exact home addresses on birth records, we exploit arguably exogenous variation in noise exposure triggered by a new Federal Aviation Administration policy called NextGen, which unintentionally increased noise levels in communities experiencing concentrated flight patterns. We examine the fetal health impact of exposure to noise levels in excess of the EPA and the WHO recommended threshold of 55 dB. We find that the likelihood of having low birth weight (LBW) babies increases by 1.6 percentage points among mothers who live close to the airport, in the direction of the runway, exposed to noise levels over the 55 dB threshold, and during the period when NextGen was more actively implemented at the airport. Our finding has important policy implications for the trade-off between flight pattern optimization and human health in light of the long-term impact of LBW on later life outcomes. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.