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Author

Staffan Hygge

Other affiliations: Uppsala University
Bio: Staffan Hygge is an academic researcher from Royal Institute of Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Noise & Poison control. The author has an hindex of 28, co-authored 67 publications receiving 3425 citations. Previous affiliations of Staffan Hygge include Uppsala University.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The findings indicate that a chronic environmental stressor-aircraft noise-could impair cognitive development in children, specifically reading comprehension, and schools exposed to high levels of aircraft noise are not healthy educational environments.

575 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Mediational analyses suggest that poorer reading was not mediated by speech perception, and that impaired recall was in part mediated by reading.
Abstract: Before the opening of the new Munich International Airport and the termination of the old airport, children near both sites were recruited into aircraft-noise groups (aircraft noise at present or pending) and control groups with no aircraft noise (closely matched for socioeconomic status). A total of 326 children (mean age = 10.4 years) took part in three data-collection waves, one before and two after the switch-over of the airports. After the switch, long-term memory and reading were impaired in the noise group at the new airport. and improved in the formerly noise-exposed group at the old airport. Short-term memory also improved in the latter group after the old airport was closed. At the new airport, speech perception was impaired in the newly noise-exposed group. Mediational analyses suggest that poorer reading was not mediated by speech perception, and that impaired recall was in part mediated by reading.

323 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors illustrate the value of incorporating psychological principles into the environmental sciences by using psychophysics, cognitive, motivational, and affective indices of stress in environmental sciences.
Abstract: This article illustrates the value of incorporating psychological principles into the environmental sciences. Psycho-physiological, cognitive, motivational, and affective indices of stress were mon ...

287 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, cognitive, emotional, and physiological effects of two open-plan office noise conditions (high noise: 51 LA eq and low noise: 39 LA eq) during work in a simulated office, followed by four restoration conditions (river movie with sound, only river sound, silence, and office noise) after the work period.

252 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Data collected before and after the inauguration of a major new international airport in noise-impacted and comparison communities show that noise significantly elevates stress among children at ambient levels far below those necessary to produce hearing damage.
Abstract: Chronic exposure to aircraft noise elevated psychophysiological stress (resting blood pressure and overnight epinephrine and norepinephrine) and depressed quality-of-life indicators over a 2-year period among 9- to 11-year-old children. Data collected before and after the inauguration of a major new international airport in noise-impacted and comparison communities show that noise significantly elevates stress among children at ambient levels far below those necessary to produce hearing damage.

235 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The fear module is assumed to mediate an emotional level of fear learning that is relatively independent and dissociable from cognitive learning of stimulus relationships.
Abstract: An evolved module for fear elicitation and fear learning with 4 characteristics is proposed. (a) The fear module is preferentially activated in aversive contexts by stimuli that are fear relevant in an evolutionary perspective. (b) Its activation to such stimuli is automatic. (c) It is relatively impenetrable to cognitive control. (d) It originates in a dedicated neural circuitry, centered on the amygdala. Evidence supporting these propositions is reviewed from conditioning studies, both in humans and in monkeys; illusory correlation studies; studies using unreportable stimuli; and studies from animal neuroscience. The fear module is assumed to mediate an emotional level of fear learning that is relatively independent and dissociable from cognitive learning of stimulus relationships.

2,777 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work focuses on nature as represented by aspects of the physical environment relevant to planning, design, and policy measures that serve broad segments of urbanized societies and considers research on pathways between nature and health involving air quality, physical activity, social cohesion, and stress reduction.
Abstract: Urbanization, resource exploitation, and lifestyle changes have diminished possibilities for human contact with nature in many societies. Concern about the loss has helped motivate research on the health benefits of contact with nature. Reviewing that research here, we focus on nature as represented by aspects of the physical environment relevant to planning, design, and policy measures that serve broad segments of urbanized societies. We discuss difficulties in defining “nature” and reasons for the current expansion of the research field, and we assess available reviews. We then consider research on pathways between nature and health involving air quality, physical activity, social cohesion, and stress reduction. Finally, we discuss methodological issues and priorities for future research. The extant research does describe an array of benefits of contact with nature, and evidence regarding some benefits is strong; however, some findings indicate caution is needed in applying beliefs about those benefits,...

2,046 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The importance of adequate noise prevention and mitigation strategies for public health is stressed, as Observational and experimental studies have shown that noise exposure leads to annoyance, disturbs sleep and causes daytime sleepiness.

1,189 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Gary W. Evans1
TL;DR: The built environment has direct and indirect effects on mental health, and personal control, socially supportive relationships, and restoration from stress and fatigue are all affected by properties of the built environment.
Abstract: The built environment has direct and indirect effects on mental health. High-rise housing is inimical to the psychological well-being of women with young children. Poor-quality housing appears to increase psychological distress, but methodological issues make it difficult to draw clear conclusions. Mental health of psychiatric patients has been linked to design elements that affect their ability to regulate social interaction (e.g., furniture configuration, privacy). Alzheimer's patients adjust better to small-scale, homier facilities that also have lower levels of stimulation. They are also better adjusted in buildings that accommodate physical wandering. Residential crowding (number of people per room) and loud exterior noise sources (e.g., airports) elevate psychological distress but do not produce serious mental illness. Malodorous air pollutants heighten negative affect, and some toxins (e.g., lead, solvents) cause behavioral disturbances (e.g., self-regulatory ability, aggression). Insufficient daylight is reliably associated with increased depressive symptoms. Indirectly, the physical environment may influence mental health by altering psychosocial processes with known mental health sequelae. Personal control, socially supportive relationships, and restoration from stress and fatigue are all affected by properties of the built environment. More prospective, longitudinal studies and, where feasible, randomized experiments are needed to examine the potential role of the physical environment in mental health. Even more challenging is the task of developing underlying models of how the built environment can affect mental health. It is also likely that some individuals may be more vulnerable to mental health impacts of the built environment. Because exposure to poor environmental conditions is not randomly distributed and tends to concentrate among the poor and ethnic minorities, we also need to focus more attention on the health implications of multiple environmental risk exposure.

1,021 citations