It is known that drug-taking behavior can be influenced by a user's physical and social environment, as well as their history. When using animal models in the study of substance use, changes to the microenvironment of the cage (i.e., access to food and water, bedding, number of animals housed per cage, air exchange, enrichment) or the macroenvironment of the vivarium (i.e., light cycle, humidity, temperature) may affect experimental outcomes [1]. Ambient noise and vibration levels are also a concern, and must be taken into consideration when designing facilities and conducting experiments as noise volumes in excess of 85 decibels have been shown to affect behavioral *Corresponding author: Kristin L Gosselink, Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W University Ave, El Paso, TX 79902, USA, Tel: +1 9157476877; E-mail: kgosselink@utep.edu and physiological outcomes including fertility [2] and adrenal weight [3]. Rodents are also sensitive to ultrasonic sounds, which at high frequencies can affect locomotor behavior [4]. Likewise, vibrational stimuli of varying duration, intensity and frequency that originate from within the vivarium or from external sources can modify animal behavior and biology [5,6] and should thus be minimized as much as possible. A recent study [7] has provided evidence that even anesthetized rodents may be subject to the effects of vibration.Numerous studies have used loud noise as a stress stimulus, and demonstrated increases in stress hormones such as epinephrine and cortisol that are then implicated in the manifestation of stress-associated physiological disorders [8]. Whole-body vibration can alter autonomic and neuroendocrine responses to stress, by increasing the limbic secretion of factors that regulate hypothalamic-pituitary function such as vasoactive intestinal peptide [9] and substance-P or neurotensin [10]. In a separate study, whole-body vibrational stress decreased norepinephrine levels in whole brain as well as in the hypothalamus and hippocampus [11]. Fewer investigations into the effects of noise or vibration on drug intake have been published. However, one study found that conditioned place preference to MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine; "ecstasy") was enhanced by exposure to noise in rats [12]. Paradoxically, loud noise was shown to enhance MD-MA-induced toxicity in nigrostriatal dopaminergic terminals in mice [13], and the combination of Methamphetamine (METH) and loud noise in mice has been shown to increase the number of seizures and the amount of reactive gliosis in the brain compared to METH alone [14]. In summary, the ability of vibration or noise to serve as stressors in animal studies is clear and the eradication of these stimuli is critical for effective experimental design and analysis. This is especially true in studies where stress is applied as an independent variable or measured as an outcome of the experimental design.We recently conducted a study on METH Intravenous Self-Administration (IVSA) in young adult male rats...