H. Buess

Bio: H. Buess is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Aircraft noise & Noise. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 7 publications receiving 36 citations.

Aircraft noise effects on sleep: Final results of DLR laboratory and field studies of 2240 polysomnographically recorded subject nights

Abstract: 500] OBJECTIVES Sleep is vital for the recovery of physical and mental capacities. Environmental noise is a potential disrupter of the sleep process. In order to develop scientifically sound criteria for the operation and restriction of nocturnal air traffic, the DLR-Institute of Aerospace Medicine investigated the influence of nocturnal aircraft noise on sleep, mood and behavior in four representative laboratory and two field studies between 1999 and 2003. METHODS In the lab, 128 subjects aged 18-65 were investigated during 13 consecutive nights (total: 1,664 nights). Between 4 and 128 aircraft noise events with LAS,max between 45 and 80 dB(A) were played back between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Results were compared to the findings of two field studies with 64 subjects and 576 nights in total. Here, sound pressure levels were simultaneously measured indoors and outdoors. Electrophysiological signals included polysomnography, EKG, plethysmography, respiration and actigraphy. Synchronous recording with acoustic data assured event related analysis. RESULTS Random effects logistic regression was used for the prediction of noise induced awakenings depending on LAS,max and the calculation of dose–response curves. A comparison of the awakening probability between lab and field revealed striking differences. Based on these results, new criteria for the restriction of nocturnal air traffic were developed and will be presented. CONCLUSIONS The combination of a huge database and new statistical procedures allows the precise prediction of the influence of nocturnal aircraft noise on sleep, which again can be used for the proposal of advanced rules for the protection of residents living near airports.

The Influence of Nocturnal Aircraft Noise on Humans - A New Comprehensive Approach

Abstract: The DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Cologne investigates the influence of nocturnal aircraft noise on human sleep and performance. 128 healthy volunteers aged 18-65 are being examined in four studies during 13 consecutive nights (2300-0700) in our sleep laboratory. The results will be validated in 2 field studies investigating 64 volunteers, thus 2496 nights in total will be observed. Various physiological signals are sampled: polysomnographic measurements (EEG, EOG, EMG), the electrocardiogram, finger pulse amplitude, respiration and actigraphy. The stress parameters cortisol, epinephrine and nor-epinephrine are extracted from nocturnal urine samples. The AGARD-Stres battery is used to examine the possible interference of aircraft noise induced sleep disturbances with mental performance. In order to measure subjective reactions, psychometric questionnaires are filled out twice a day. In 9 of the 13 nights of the laboratory studies, aircraft noise with varying frequencies of occurrence (4 to 128 events) and noise levels ranging from 50 to 80 dB LAS,max (LAS,eq(3) 31.2-52.6 dB) is presented by loudspeakers. Correct playback is assured by re-measurements of terz levels in each bedroom. The noise has been recorded in bedrooms with closed or tilted windows of residents living near an airport using a class 1 noise level meter. Since all parameters are stored simultaneously on hard disk, single noise events can be analysed and correlated with physiological parameters.

Burden of Disease from Environmental Noise: Quantification of Healthy Life Years Lost in Europe

Abstract: The health impacts of environmental noise are a growing concern. At least one million healthy life years are lost every year from traffic-related noise in the western part of Europe. This publication summarises the evidence on the relationship between environmental noise and health effects, including cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance, tinnitus, and annoyance. For each one, the environmental burden of disease methodology, based on exposure-response relationship, exposure distribution, background prevalence of disease and disability weights of the outcome, is applied to calculate the burden of disease in terms of disability-adjusted life-years. Data are still lacking for the rest of the WHO European Region. This publication provides policy-makers and their advisers with technical support in their quantitative risk assessment of environmental noise. International, national and local authorities can use the procedure for estimating burdens presented here to prioritize and plan environmental and public health policies.

Single and combined effects of air, road, and rail traffic noise on sleep and recuperation.

Abstract: Study Objectives: Traffic noise disturbs sleep and may impair recuperation. There is limited information on single and combined effects of air, road and rail traffic noise on sleep and recuperation. Design: Repeated measures Setting: Polysomnographic laboratory study Participants: 72 healthy subjects, mean ± standard deviation 40 ± 13 years, range 18-71 years, 32 male Interventions: Exposure to 40, 80, or 120 rail, road, and/or air traffic noise events Measurements and Results: Subjects were investigated for 11 consecutive nights, which included eight noise exposure nights and one noise-free control night. Noise effects on sleep structure and continuity were subtle, even in nights with combined exposure, most likely due to habituation and an increase in arousal thresholds both within and across nights. However, cardiac arousals did not habituate across nights. Noise exposure significantly affected subjective assessments of sleep quality and recuperation, whereas objective performance was unaffected, except for a small increase in mean PVT reaction time (+4 ms, adjusted P 3 kHz) noise event components. Conclusions: Road, rail, and air traffic noise differentially affect objective and subjective assessments of sleep. Differences in the degree of noise-induced sleep fragmentation between traffic modes were explained by the specific spectral and temporal composition of noise events, indicating potential targets for active and passive noise control. Field studies are needed to validate our findings in a setting with higher ecologic validity.

Acute effects of night-time noise exposure on blood pressure in populations living near airports

Abstract: Within the framework of the HYENA (hypertension and exposure to noise near airports) project we investigated the effect of short-term changes of transportation or indoor noise levels on blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) during night-time sleep in 140 subjects living near four major European airports. Methods and results Non-invasive ambulatory BP measurements at 15 min intervals were performed. Noise was measured during the night sleeping period and recorded digitally for the identification of the source of a noise event. Exposure variables included equivalent noise level over 1 and 15 min and presence/absence of event (with LAmax . 35 dB) before each BP measurement. Random effects models for repeated measurements were applied. An increase in BP (6.2 mmHg (0.63-12) for systolic and 7.4 mmHg (3.1, 12) for diastolic) was observed over 15 min intervals in which an aircraft event occurred. A non-significant increase in HR was also observed (by 5.4 b.p.m.). Less consistent effects were observed on HR. When the actual maximum noise level of an event was assessed there were no systematic differ- ences in the effects according to the noise source. Conclusion Effects of noise exposure on elevated subsequent BP measurements were clearly shown. The effect size of the noise

Associations between noise sensitivity and sleep, subjectively evaluated sleep quality, annoyance, and performance after exposure to nocturnal traffic noise

Abstract: In order to determine the influence of noise sensitivity on sleep, subjective sleep quality, annoyance, and performance after nocturnal exposure to traffic noise, 12 women and 12 men (age range, 19-28 years) were observed during four consecutive nights over a three weeks period. After a habituation night, the participants were exposed with weekly permuted changes to air, rail and road traffic noise. Of the four nights, one was a quiet night (32 dBA), while three were noisy nights with exposure to equivalent noise levels of 39, 44, and 50 dBA in a permuted order. The traffic noise caused alterations of most of the physiological parameters, subjective evaluation of sleep, annoyance, and performance. Correlations were found between noise sensitivity and subjective sleep quality in terms of worsened restoration, decreased calmness, difficulty to fall asleep, and body movements. The results suggest that alterations of subjective evaluation of sleep were determined by physical parameters of the noise but modified by individual factors like noise sensitivity.

An ECG-based Algorithm for the Automatic Identification of Autonomic Activations Associated with Cortical Arousal

Abstract: Objectives: EEG arousals are associated with autonomic activations. Visual EEG arousal scoring is time consuming and suffers from low interob-server agreement. We hypothesized that information on changes in heart rate alone suffice to predict the occurrence of cortical arousal. Methods: Two visual AASM EEG arousal scorings of 56 healthy subject nights (mean age 37.0 ± 12.8 years, 26 male) were obtained. For each of 5 heartbeats following the onset of 3581 consensus EEG arousals and of an equal number of control conditions, differences to a moving median were calculated and used to estimate likelihood ratios (LRs) for 10 categories of heartbeat differences. Comparable to 5 consecutive diagnostic tests, these LRs were used to calculate the probability of heart rate responses being associated with cortical arousals. Results: EEG and ECG arousal indexes agreed well across a wide range of decision thresholds, resulting in a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) with an area under the curve of 0.91. For the decision threshold chosen for the final analyses, a sensitivity of 68.1% and a specificity of 95.2% were obtained. ECG and EEG arousal indexes were poorly correlated (r = 0.19, P <0.001, ICC = 0.186), which could in part be attributed to 3 outliers. The Bland-Altman plot showed an unbiased estimation of EEG arousal indexes by ECG arousal indexes with a standard deviation of ± 7.9 arousals per hour sleep. In about two-thirds of all cases, ECG arousal scoring was matched by at least one (22.2%) or by both (42.5%) of the visual scorings. Sensitivity of the algorithm increased with increasing duration of EEG arousals. The ECG algorithm was also successfully validated with 30 different nights of 10 subjects (mean age 35.3 □ 13.6 years, 5 male). Conclusions: In its current version, the ECG algorithm cannot replace visual EEG arousal scoring. Sensitivity for detecting <10-s EEG arousals needs to be improved. However, in a nonclinical population, it may be valuable to supplement visual EEG arousal scoring by this automatic, objective, reproducible, cheap, and time-saving method.