Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health

Noise is pervasive in everyday life and can cause both auditory and non-auditory health eff ects. Noise-induced hearing loss remains highly prevalent in occupational settings, and is increasingly caused by social noise exposure (eg, through personal music players). Our understanding of molecular mechanisms involved in noise-induced haircell and nerve damage has substantially increased, and preventive and therapeutic drugs will probably become available within 10 years. Evidence of the non-auditory eff ects of environmental noise exposure on public health is growing. Observational and experimental studies have shown that noise exposure leads to annoyance, disturbs sleep and causes daytime sleepiness, aff ects patient outcomes and staff performance in hospitals, increases the occurrence of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, and impairs cognitive performance in schoolchildren. In this Review, we stress the importance of adequate noise prevention and mitigation strategies for public health.

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Auditory and non-auditory eff ects of noise on health

The interest in the systematic study of the circadian typology (CT) is relatively recent and has developed rapidly in the two last decades. All the existing data suggest that this individual difference affects our biological and psychological functioning, not only in health, but also in disease. In the present study, we review the current literature concerning the psychometric properties and validity of CT measures as well as individual, environmental and genetic factors that influence the CT. We present a brief overview of the biological markers that are used to define differences between CT groups (sleep-wake cycle, body temperature, cortisol and melatonin), and we assess the implications for CT and adjustment to shiftwork and jet lag. We also review the differences between CT in terms of cognitive abilities, personality traits and the incidence of psychiatric disorders. When necessary, we have emphasized the methodological limitations that exist today and suggested some future avenues of work in order to overcome these. This is a new field of interest to professionals in many different areas (research, labor, academic and clinical), and this review provides a state of the art discussion to allow professionals to integrate chronobiological aspects of human behavior into their daily practice.

Circadian typology: a comprehensive review.

Sleep and circadian rhythm disruption are frequently observed in patients with psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative disease. The abnormal sleep that is experienced by these patients is largely assumed to be the product of medication or some other influence that is not well defined. However, normal brain function and the generation of sleep are linked by common neurotransmitter systems and regulatory pathways. Disruption of sleep alters sleep-wake timing, destabilizes physiology and promotes a range of pathologies (from cognitive to metabolic defects) that are rarely considered to be associated with abnormal sleep. We propose that brain disorders and abnormal sleep have a common mechanistic origin and that many co-morbid pathologies that are found in brain disease arise from a destabilization of sleep mechanisms. The stabilization of sleep may be a means by which to reduce the symptoms of--and permit early intervention of--psychiatric and neurodegenerative disease.

Sleep and circadian rhythm disruption in psychiatric and neurodegenerative disease

Melatonin is a ubiquitous molecule and widely distributed in nature, with functional activity occurring in unicellular organisms, plants, fungi and animals. In most vertebrates, including humans, melatonin is synthesized primarily in the pineal gland and is regulated by the environmental light/dark cycle via the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Pinealocytes function as 'neuroendocrine transducers' to secrete melatonin during the dark phase of the light/dark cycle and, consequently, melatonin is often called the 'hormone of darkness'. Melatonin is principally secreted at night and is centrally involved in sleep regulation, as well as in a number of other cyclical bodily activities. Melatonin is exclusively involved in signaling the 'time of day' and 'time of year' (hence considered to help both clock and calendar functions) to all tissues and is thus considered to be the body's chronological pacemaker or 'Zeitgeber'. Synthesis of melatonin also occurs in other areas of the body, including the retina, the gastrointestinal tract, skin, bone marrow and in lymphocytes, from which it may influence other physiological functions through paracrine signaling. Melatonin has also been extracted from the seeds and leaves of a number of plants and its concentration in some of this material is several orders of magnitude higher than its night-time plasma value in humans. Melatonin participates in diverse physiological functions. In addition to its timekeeping functions, melatonin is an effective antioxidant which scavenges free radicals and up-regulates several antioxidant enzymes. It also has a strong antiapoptotic signaling function, an effect which it exerts even during ischemia. Melatonin's cytoprotective properties have practical implications in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Melatonin also has immune-enhancing and oncostatic properties. Its 'chronobiotic' properties have been shown to have value in treating various circadian rhythm sleep disorders, such as jet lag or shift-work sleep disorder. Melatonin acting as an 'internal sleep facilitator' promotes sleep, and melatonin's sleep-facilitating properties have been found to be useful for treating insomnia symptoms in elderly and depressive patients. A recently introduced melatonin analog, agomelatine, is also efficient for the treatment of major depressive disorder and bipolar affective disorder. Melatonin's role as a 'photoperiodic molecule' in seasonal reproduction has been established in photoperiodic species, although its regulatory influence in humans remains under investigation. Taken together, this evidence implicates melatonin in a broad range of effects with a significant regulatory influence over many of the body's physiological functions.

Melatonin: Nature's most versatile biological signal?

Objective: Statistical models for the annoyance from multiple transportation noise are needed to understand and predict the annoyance resulting from specific noise exposures. Methods: Models from the class of generalized linear models are suggested and discussed. Observations which are not well explained by the considered model are regarded as outliers. Outlier detection methods are applied to the data modelled by robust estimates using different link functions. Results: The discussed methods are applied to data from a laboratory experiment using generalized linear models. While considering outliers, a generalized linear model with a complementary log-log link is found to be a good choice in modelling the exposure-response relationship between noise levels and annoyance.

Annoyance from multiple transportation noise: statistical models and outlier detection.

Grenzwerte nächtlicher belastbarkeit durch strassengeräusche

Evaluation of traffic noise effects on sleep

The processes of acclimation to hot-dry and to warm-humid climates were studied using two approaches: a quantitative analysis of literature data and an experimental study in the laboratory concerning the physiological parameters of heart rate, rectal temperature, sweat loss, and subjective assessment. Analysis o f literature data: Data from 62 experiments with a total of 813 participants were pooled and recalculated. The experiments ranged from 6 to 24 days, air temperatures from 30.4 to 50.0°C, water vapor pressures from 1.5 to 6.5 kPa, and wet bulb globe temperatures (WBGT) from 27.4 to 38.6°C. Laboratory studies: In the laboratory, 8 participants were acclimated during 15 consecutive days to a hot-dry climate and to a warm-humid climate, which were equivalent in terms of the WBGT (33.5 and 33.6°C, respectively). The participants walked four times for 25 min on a treadmill at a speed of 4 km/h. The hot-dry climate caused somewhat greater strain than the warm-humid condition. In the course of acclimation to the hot-dry climate, heart rate and rectal temperature started at higher levels, decreased slightly steeper but remained on a higher level throughout. Nevertheless, the differences between both thermal conditions were small, and both physiologic functions reached the point of acclimation almost at the same time under warm-humid and under hot-dry exposure. Sweat loss, which is not regarded as a valid predictor for acclimation, was considerably higher but increased less in the hot-dry than in the warm-humid climate.

Human Adaptation to Work in Two Different Climates

The aim of the present study was to identify possible moderator variables that influence annoyance due to aircraft noise. The data analysed here were ascertained by extended questionnaires in three studies within the COSMA-Project that was funded by the European Union. There were a Field Study and a Telephone Interview, each performed with residents living in the vicinity of the airports Cologne-Bonn, London Heathrow or Stockholm- Arlanda and a Laboratory Study performed with residents living near the airports Budapest, Lyon or Paris. In each of the three studies (and the overall 9 subgroups) the participants completed extended questionnaires on long- Term annoyance. In the field study sleep behaviour and acute annoyance that was rated each hour were additionally ascertained over a period of 4 days. Using a logistic regression model analysis odds ratios were determined for possible moderators. Based on the results a model was created that shows the most important negative and positive influences.

Barbara Griefahn

Papers

Annoyance from multiple transportation noise: statistical models and outlier detection.

Grenzwerte nächtlicher belastbarkeit durch strassengeräusche

Evaluation of traffic noise effects on sleep

Human Adaptation to Work in Two Different Climates

Moderators that influence annoyance of residents near 6 European airports