Talk of decibels is misleading

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Regarding the April 16 article, “The noise question“: Mr. Rick Neitzel, a UW researcher, used this exposure to mislead rather than to educate. By associating high blood pressure, hearing loss, and even heart attacks with daily (noise) averages of “more than 70 decibels,” he leads the reader to conclude that these consequences could result from commercial traffic at Paine field.

He deftly danced between fact and illusion. How much more than 70 decibels? He says 70 decibels is equivalent to “close-up busy traffic.” Is this why high blood pressure and heart attacks are so rampant? Do you really think so? So much for obesity as the primary cause.

He also says that these terrible outcomes are “associated with” noise levels. “Associated with” is code-speak for “We can’t prove cause and effect, but we often find these two things together.” Where is there a segment of the American population in which high blood pressure and heart attack aren’t rampant? He basically is saying, “When we look at swamps, we find frogs.” Unfortunately in the Paine Field commercial use debate, a part of the public seems predisposed to believe that frogs aren’t just associated with swamps, they cause swamps.

For the anti-commercial use crowd: Do you feel any anxiety at all about how we are benefiting locally (jobs/economy) by making airplanes that “damage” so many other cities around the world? No…? It’s because you know better, isn’t it?

John Baker
Mukilteo