Photo credit: Azim Islam
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition, and Honorary Chair, Quiet American Skies
Our blog readers are familiar with my comments that individuals living with aircraft noise say that authorities charged with addressing this noise often ignore their cries. Thus, I was pleased to read an article by Aysegul Yildirim who conducted in-depth interviews with individuals affected by aircraft noise in their homes. She did this in fulfillment of her Ph.D. at the University of London. The title of her research is: “Ways of ‘Not Hearing’: Corporate Denial in the Case of Aircraft Noise and Victimisation in the UK.” I ask you to look at the word “victimisation” in the title, as it will give you some idea of how she perceived her interviewees.
Yildirim introduces her paper by stating that transportation noise is a “global environmental threat” and goes on to cite studies on the adverse effects of noise on health and well-being. She says that individuals exposed to aircraft noise in the UK do not have adequate tools to combat this harmful threat. For that reason, individuals in this position can be viewed as victims.
The subjects for Yildirim’s study were interviewed for an hour, which allowed them to express their feelings about the impacts of aircraft noise on their lives. For the most part, the subjects noted that authorities essentially denied their concerns about the effects of aircraft noise. Such denials made the subjects, or should I say “victims,” feel helpless. Though the term “learned helplessness” was not used in the paper, it is often used to explain how people feel when any of their complaints, noise-related or not, are discarded.
Yildirim ends the report by stating that the denial of aircraft noise complaints continues the invisibility of the people who are being negatively affected by it. I strongly suggest that our readers take time to review the article, so that you can see the full range of arguments Yildirim makes to support her claim that people whose complaints are ignored should be viewed as “victims.” And, that those who deny these complaints “operate to the advantage of the powerful” and contribute to the powerlessness of those affected by aircraft noise.
