I am a plane enthusiast and occasionally like to go plane spotting at the local airport. I observe commercial jet takeoffs and landings from a turnoff about 350 meters perpendicular to the runway, with some planes taking off right in front (but perpendicular) to the car. Aircraft take off and land on the opposite side of the runway, so the engines are never facing the car.
Inside the car, from which I normally watch, decibel levels do not exceed 70 even if a large aircraft were taking off. Outside it can get as high as 90 decibels, but I have only been exposed to such noise for about 3 seconds by accident.
However, watching planes for about an hour yesterday evening resulted in noticeable low frequency hearing loss and nausea, as well as a headache about 2 hours afterward. My father, who was with me at the time, incidentally did not have either effect from watching the airplanes and he kept trying to roll down the window to watch!
My only thought was that my experience may have resulted from the infrasound the nearby aircraft were emitting, which may be louder than those 70 decibels I would be aware of. Then again, I never felt any vibrations and the car additionally never shook. Perceptually, it was no different than having a motorcycle fly past you about half a block away.
I understand that infrasound noise is harmful because it moves throughout your body. Jet engines are of course a very loud noise to begin with and do produce a lot of infrasound.
Was I potentially in harm's way given my distance to be affected by this particular noise?
Inside the car, from which I normally watch, decibel levels do not exceed 70 even if a large aircraft were taking off. Outside it can get as high as 90 decibels, but I have only been exposed to such noise for about 3 seconds by accident.
However, watching planes for about an hour yesterday evening resulted in noticeable low frequency hearing loss and nausea, as well as a headache about 2 hours afterward. My father, who was with me at the time, incidentally did not have either effect from watching the airplanes and he kept trying to roll down the window to watch!
My only thought was that my experience may have resulted from the infrasound the nearby aircraft were emitting, which may be louder than those 70 decibels I would be aware of. Then again, I never felt any vibrations and the car additionally never shook. Perceptually, it was no different than having a motorcycle fly past you about half a block away.
I understand that infrasound noise is harmful because it moves throughout your body. Jet engines are of course a very loud noise to begin with and do produce a lot of infrasound.
Was I potentially in harm's way given my distance to be affected by this particular noise?
