WHO Regional Office for Europe.

Noise is a prominent feature of the environment including noise from transport, industry and neighbours. Exposure to transport noise disturbs sleep in the laboratory, but not generally in field studies where adaptation occurs. Noise interferes in complex task performance, modifies social behaviour and causes annoyance. Studies of occupational and environmental noise exposure suggest an association with hypertension, whereas community studies show only weak relationships between noise and cardiovascular disease. Aircraft and road traffic noise exposure are associated with psychological symptoms but not with clinically defined psychiatric disorder. In both industrial studies and community studies, noise exposure is related to raised catecholamine secretion. In children, chronic aircraft noise exposure impairs reading comprehension and long-term memory and may be associated with raised blood pressure. Further research is needed examining coping strategies and the possible health consequences of adaptation to noise.

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Noise pollution: non-auditory effects on health

This paper examines the effects of stress on sustained attention. With recognition of the task itself as the major source of cognitive stress, a dynamic model is presented that addresses the effects of stress on vigilance and, potentially, a wide variety of attention-demanding performance tasks.

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A dynamic model of stress, and sustained attention

The sources of human exposure to low-frequency noise and its effects are reviewed. Low-frequency noise is common as background noise in urban environments, and as an emission from many artificial sources: road vehicles, aircraft, industrial machinery, artillery and mining explosions, and air movement machinery including wind turbines, compressors, and ventilation or air-conditioning units. The effects of low-frequency noise are of particular concern because of its pervasiveness due to numerous sources, efficient propagation, and reduced efficacy of many structures (dwellings, walls, and hearing protection) in attenuating low-frequency noise compared with other noise. Intense low-frequency noise appears to produce clear symptoms including respiratory impairment and aural pain. Although the effects of lower intensities of low-frequency noise are difficult to establish for methodological reasons, evidence suggests that a number of adverse effects of noise in general arise from exposure to low-frequency noise: Loudness judgments and annoyance reactions are sometimes reported to be greater for low-frequency noise than other noises for equal sound-pressure level; annoyance is exacerbated by rattle or vibration induced by low-frequency noise; speech intelligibility may be reduced more by low-frequency noise than other noises except those in the frequency range of speech itself, because of the upward spread of masking. On the other hand, it is also possible that low-frequency noise provides some protection against the effects of simultaneous higher frequency noise on hearing. Research needs and policy decisions, based on what is currently known, are considered.

/pdf/sources-and-effects-of-low-frequency-noise-hc722w2uv6.pdf

Sources and effects of low-frequency noise.

Three influential perspectives of social cognition entail conflicting predictions regarding the selectivity of performance under stress. According to the attention view, selectivity to the task-relevant attribute improves under stress because of reduced utilization of task-irrelevant attributes. According to the capacity-resource approach, stress depletes attentional resources wherefore selectivity fails for all but chronically accessible information. A third perspective, ironic process theory, similarly holds that selective attention fails under stress but adds that task-irrelevant information is rendered hyperaccessible. The theoretical derivations were tested in a series of experiments using 2 classes of selectivity measures, with special care taken to control for hitherto neglected factors of context The results showed that the selectivity of attention improved under stress, consistent with the prediction of the attention view.

Selective attention improves under stress: implications for theories of social cognition.

Noise and Human Efficiency is the sixth volume in this Wiley series on "Studies in Human Performance". It is an account of the effects of noise on human performance. After delineating the physics of sound and noise, and presenting the essentials on the physiology of the ear with its associated brain mechanisms, the book explains the consequences of noise for auditory perception and the comprehension of speech. It also describes the after effects of persistent noise, in the form of various kinds of temporary or permanent deafness. With respect to performance of non-auditory tasks, the book reviews the experiments on annoyance and social disruption, in addition to those on various industrial and laboratory tasks. It brings the record up to date by showing that the effects of noise are not always detrimental. Noise has complex consequences, interacting with such factors as arousal, time-of-day, sex and personality. Although the appropriate psychological theories are reviewed, the author's main aim has been to pick his way through the experimental and methodological complexities in such a way as to show exactly what has been firmly established.

Robert D. Sorkin

Papers

Noise and human efficiency