Exposure to noise constitutes a health risk. There is sufficient scientific evidence that noise exposure can induce hearing impairment, hypertension and ischemic heart disease, annoyance, sleep disturbance, and decreased school performance. For other effects such as changes in the immune system and birth defects, the evidence is limited. Most public health impacts of noise were already identified in the 1960s and noise abatement is less of a scientific but primarily a policy problem. A subject for further research is the elucidation of the mechanisms underlying noise-induced cardiovascular disorders and the relationship of noise with annoyance and nonacoustical factors modifying health outcomes. A high priority study subject is the effects of noise on children, including cognitive effects and their reversibility. Noise exposure is on the increase, especially in the general living environment, both in industrialized nations and in developing world regions. This implies that in the twenty-first century noise exposure will still be a major public health problem.

Noise exposure and public health.

Determinants of restorative experiences in everyday favorite places.

Background. Previous research suggests that children are a high risk group vulnerable to the effects of chronic noise exposure. However, questions remain about the nature of the noise effects and the underlying causal mechanisms. This study addresses the effects of aircraft noise exposure on children around London Heathrow airport, in terms of stress responses, mental health and cognitive performance. The research also focuses on the underlying causal mechanisms contributing to the cognitive effects and potential confounding factors.Methods. The cognitive performance and health of 340 children aged 8–11 years attending four schools in high aircraft noise areas (16h outdoor Leq>66dBA) was compared with children attending four matched control schools exposed to lower levels of aircraft noise (16h outdoor Leq<57dBA). Mental health and cognitive tests were group administered to the children in the schools. Salivary cortisol was measured in a subsample of children.Results. Chronic aircraft noise exposure was associated with higher levels of noise annoyance and poorer reading comprehension measured by standardized scales with adjustments for age, deprivation and main language spoken. Chronic aircraft noise was not associated with mental health problems and raised cortisol secretion. The association between aircraft noise exposure and reading comprehension could not be accounted for by the mediating role of annoyance, confounding by social class, deprivation, main language or acute noise exposure.Conclusions.These results suggest that chronic aircraft noise exposure is associated with impaired reading comprehension and high levels of noise annoyance but not mental health problems in children.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033291701003282

Chronic aircraft noise exposure, stress responses, mental health and cognitive performance in school children.

Noise annoyance--a modifier of the association between noise level and cardiovascular health?

Aims: Traffic noise is a psychosocial stressor. Epidemiological studies suggest chronic noise stress to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disorders.

Methods: In a prospective cohort study, the association between annoyance and disturbances due to road traffic noise and the incidence of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) was studied in 3950 middle aged men.

Results: Depending on the questionnaire item, non-significant odds ratios for IHD incidence ranging from 0.9 to 1.4 were found for the highly noise annoyed/disturbed subjects when compared with the less annoyed/disturbed subjects, over the six year follow up period. However, this relation was strongly modified by the prevalence of pre-existing chronic diseases. In subjects free of any chronic disease at the beginning of the follow up, significant odds ratios between 1.7 and 3.0 were seen. In the subgroup with chronic diseases no such noise effects were seen. This surprising result of no effect in the group of people with a potential risk, due to pre-existing health problems, may be because of the dilution of the true effect due to recall bias.

Conclusions: Annoyance and disturbance due to road traffic noise is associated with a higher incidence of IHD. Prevalence of disease can be an important effect modifier of the relation between noise annoyance and health outcomes.

https://oem.bmj.com/content/oemed/60/10/739.full.pdf

R.F.S. Job

Papers

The influence of subjective reactions to noise on health effects of the noise