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

Abstract: Descent into sleep is accompanied by disengagement of the conscious brain from the external world It follows that this process should be associated with reduced neural activity in regions of the brain known to mediate interaction with the environment We examined blood oxygen dependent (BOLD) signal functional connectivity using conventional seed-based analyses in 3 primary sensory and 3 association networks as normal young adults transitioned from wakefulness to light sleep while lying immobile in the bore of a magnetic resonance imaging scanner Functional connectivity was maintained in each network throughout all examined states of arousal Indeed, correlations within the dorsal attention network modestly but significantly increased during light sleep compared to wakefulness Moreover, our data suggest that neuronally mediated BOLD signal variance generally increases in light sleep These results do not support the view that ongoing BOLD fluctuations primarily reflect unconstrained cognition Rather, accumulating evidence supports the hypothesis that spontaneous BOLD fluctuations reflect processes that maintain the integrity of functional systems in the brain

Abstract: Background: An association has been reported between long-term exposure to road traffic noise and the risk of myocardial infarction (MI), but the evidence is limited and inconclusive. No previous study has simultaneously analyzed the role of exposure to noise and air pollution from road traffic in the risk of MI. Methods: A population-based case-control study on MI was conducted 1992-1994 in Stockholm County. Participants answered a questionnaire and underwent a physical examination. Residential exposure to noise and air pollution from road traffic between 1970 and 1992-1994 was assessed for 3666 participants (1571 cases of MI and 2095 controls), based on residential history combined with information on traffic intensity and distance to nearby roads. Information was also obtained on factors potentially affecting the relationship between noise exposure and MI, such as noise annoyance. Results: The correlation between long-term individual exposure to noise and air pollution from traffic was high (r = 0.6). The adjusted odds ratio for MI associated with long-term road traffic noise exposure of 50 dBA or higher was 1.12 (95% confidence interval = 0.95-1.33). In a subsample, defined by excluding persons with hearing loss or exposure to noise from other sources, the corresponding odds ratio was 1.38 (1.11-1.71), with a positive exposure-response trend. No strong effect modification was apparent by sex or cardiovascular risk factors, including air pollution from road traffic. Conclusions: The results lend some support to the hypothesis that long-term exposure to road traffic noise increases the risk for MI.

Abstract: Research on the impact of nocturnal road traffic noise on sleep and the consequences on daytime functioning demonstrates detrimental effects that cannot be ignored. The physiological reactions due to continuing noise processing during night time lead to primary sleep disturbances, which in turn impair daytime functioning. This review focuses on noise processing in general and in relation to sleep, as well as methodological aspects in the study of noise and sleep. More specifically, the choice of a research setting and noise assessment procedure is discussed and the concept of sleep quality is elaborated. In assessing sleep disturbances, we differentiate between objectively measured and subjectively reported complaints, which demonstrates the need for further understanding of the impact of noise on several sleep variables. Hereby, mediating factors such as noise sensitivity appear to play an important role. Research on long term effects of noise intrusion on sleep up till now has mainly focused on cardiovascular outcomes. The domain might benefit from additional longitudinal studies on deleterious effects of noise on mental health and general well-being.

Abstract: Several adverse effects have been associated with exposure to traffic noise. Studies supporting a noise-stress-health model have suggested links between noise level and increased noradrenalin concentrations in urine, hypertension and myocardial infarction. Among the more commonly documented effects, sleep disturbances have been regarded as being the most serious. Both noise annoyance and sleep disturbance have been proposed as important mediators of the impact of noise on health. The present paper investigates the relationships among long-term noise exposure, annoyance, sleeping problems and subjective health complaints by the use of a structural equation model. Further, it aims at giving insight into how noise sensitivity is related to sleep disturbances from road traffic noise. Finally, it examines whether any effect of noise exposure or response to noise can be detected on prevalence of cardiovascular problems, when information on sleep disturbances is included in a model. Data from a questionnaire survey conducted among a population sample in Oslo (N=2786) are combined with nighttime noise levels calculated from outside each respondents dwelling, at the bedroom facade. The results of the analysis showed significant relationships between noise annoyance at night and sleeping problems. The model also showed strong links among pseudoneurological complaints, annoyance and sleeping problems, thus pointing to the importance of including information on psychosomatic disorders and mild psychological problems in future studies looking at potential health effects of noise. The analysis showed no relationship between neither noise exposure nor response to noise and cardiovascular problems.

Abstract: The relationship between environmental noise and health is poorly understood but of fundamental importance to public health. This study estimated the relationship between noise sensitivity, noise annoyance and health-related quality of life in a sample of adults residing close to the Auckland International Airport, New Zealand. A small sample (n = 105) completed surveys measuring noise sensitivity, noise annoyance, and quality of life. Noise sensitivity was associated with health-related quality of life; annoyance and sleep disturbance mediated the effects of noise sensitivity on health.

Abstract: This individual differences study examined the separability of three often postulated executive functions-mental set shifting ("Shifting"), information updating and monitoring ("Updating"), and inhibition of prepotent responses ("Inhibition")-and their roles in complex "frontal lobe" or "executive" tasks. One hundred thirty-seven college students performed a set of relatively simple experimental tasks that are considered to predominantly tap each target executive function as well as a set of frequently used executive tasks: the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Tower of Hanoi (TOH), random number generation (RNG), operation span, and dual tasking. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the three target executive functions are moderately correlated with one another, but are clearly separable. Moreover, structural equation modeling suggested that the three functions contribute differentially to performance on complex executive tasks. Specifically, WCST performance was related most strongly to Shifting, TOH to Inhibition, RNG to Inhibition and Updating, and operation span to Updating. Dual task performance was not related to any of the three target functions. These results suggest that it is important to recognize both the unity and diversity of executive functions and that latent variable analysis is a useful approach to studying the organization and roles of executive functions.

Abstract: With the vast research interest in sleep and dreams that has developed in the past 15 years, there is increasing evidence of noncomparibility of scoring of nocturnal electroencephalograph-electroculograph records from different laboratories. In 1967 a special session on scoring criteria was held at the seventh annual meeting of the Association for the Psychophysiological Study of Sleep. Under the auspices of the UCLA Brain Information, an ad hoc committee composed of some of the most active current researchers was formed in 1967 to develop a terminology and scoring system for universal use. It is the results of the labors of this group that is now published under the imprimatur of the National Institutes of Health. The presentation is beautifully clear. Techniques of recording, scoring, and doubtful records are carefully considered. Recommendations for abbreviations, types of pictorial representation, order of polygraphic tracings are suggested.

Abstract: Recent experimental studies involving total sleep loss, sleep reduction and clinically related sleep fragmentation report impaired performance on tasks of frontal lobe or executive function, including measures of verbal fluency, creativity and planning skills Severity of sleep disturbance in obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is correlated with level of executive impairment, with some residual impairment despite treatment (continuous positive airway pressure - CPAP) Executive impairment appears to be more closely related to hypoxaemic events rather than daytime sleepiness Studies of electroencephalographic (EEG) changes throughout the course of sleep and following sleep deprivation as well as functional neuroimaging and psychophysiological changes (event-related potentials - ERPs) following sleep deprivation provide further indication of the relative importance of the frontal regions of the brain to sleep However, neurocognitive studies present many inconsistencies, task classification is often ambiguous and, in the absence of any unifying explanation at the level of cognitive mechanisms, the overall picture is one of a disparate range of impairment following sleep loss and sleep fragmentation Poorly defined concepts of frontal lobe function, executive function, memory and attention, using tasks largely developed with more severe deficit levels in mind, create further difficulties in interpreting current findings

Abstract: Social surveys of the relationship between noise exposure and the subjective reactions to it were reviewed This review indicated that remarkably similar results have been obtained across different nationalities with different measurement techniques Only a small percentage (typically less than 20%) of the variation in individual reaction is accounted for by noise exposure Analysis of potential errors in both measurement of noise and reaction suggests that elimination of errors would only slightly increase the observed correlations Variables, such as attitude to the noise source and sensitivity to noise, account for more variation in reaction than does noise exposure The weaker relationship between noise exposure and attitude than between reaction and attitude suggests that the attitude/reaction relationship is not entirely due to noise exposure causing a change in attitude itself Noise/reaction correlations based on individual data are significantly lower in studies of impulsive noise than nonimpulsive noise This may be caused, in part, by the restricted range of noise exposure studied in some socioacoustic investigations of impulsive noise However, the significantly higher correlations of attitude and reaction in impulsive noise studies suggest that attitude plays an even larger part, while noise exposure plays a lesser part in determining reaction to impulsive noise, relative to nonimpulsive noise

Abstract: Noise, a prototypical environmental stressor, has clear health effects in causing hearing loss but other health effects are less evident. Noise exposure may lead to minor emotional symptoms but the evidence of elevated levels of aircraft noise leading to psychiatric hospital admissions and psychiatric disorder in the community is contradictory. Despite this there are well documented associations between noise exposure and changes in performance, sleep disturbance and emotional reactions such as annoyance. Moreover, annoyance is associated with both environmental noise level and psychological and physical symptoms, psychiatric disorder and use of health services. It seems likely that existing psychiatric disorder contributes to high levels of annoyance. However, there is also the possibility that tendency to annoyance may be a risk factor for psychiatric morbidity. Although noise level explains a significant proportion of the variance in annoyance, the other major factor, confirmed in many studies, is subjective sensitivity to noise. Noise sensitivity is also related to psychiatric disorder. The evidence for noise sensitivity being a risk factor for psychiatric disorder would be greater if it were a stable personality characteristic, and preceded psychiatric morbidity. The stability of noise sensitivity and whether it is merely secondary to psychiatric disorder or is a risk factor for psychiatric disorder as well as annoyance is examined in two studies in this monograph: a six-year follow-up of a group of highly noise sensitive and low noise sensitive women; and a longitudinal study of depressed patients and matched control subjects examining changes in noise sensitivity with recovery from depression. A further dimension of noise effects concerns the impact of noise on the autonomic nervous system. Most physiological responses to noise habituate rapidly but in some people physiological responses persist. It is not clear whether this sub-sample is also subjectively sensitive to noise and whether failure to habituate to environmental noise may also represent a biological indicator of vulnerability to psychiatric disorder. In these studies noise sensitivity was found to be moderately stable and associated with current psychiatric disorder and a disposition to negative affectivity. Noise sensitivity levels did fall with recovery from depression but still remained high, suggesting an underlying high level of noise sensitivity. Noise sensitivity was related to higher tonic skin conductance and heart rate and greater defence/startle responses during noise exposure in the laboratory. Noise sensitive people attend more to noises, discriminate more between noises, find noises more threatening and out of their control, and react to, and adapt to noises more slowly than less noise sensitive people.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)