Effects of noise on health and well‐being

Abstract

Noise‐induced hearing loss due to intense and long‐term noise exposure is no longer disputed since the etiology is well defined. However, the influence of noise on the vegetative functions is not so clear. In addition to existing investigations on vegetative functional disturbances, the role of noise as a risk factor has to be determined and its effects have to be quantified. The significance of noise‐induced sleep disturbances in relation to health and well‐being, is also controversial. The hypothesized causal connection between acoustical stimulation and the occurrence of disorders, includes primary‐effects (e.g. awakenings) and after‐effects (e.g. changes in mood or performance). To date, it has not been feasible to determine late after‐effects, such as health disorders. The most often reported sociopsychological effect of noise is general annoyance, whereby annoyance is defined as disturbance of communication, rest, recreation or concentration. Some results indicate a higher sensitivity of critical groups (e.g. old people, the sick, children, pregnant women).

Patterns of physiological and affective responses to vehicle pass-by noises

“…[39,40] A hypothetic, but biologically highly plausible model based on the general stress concept was put forward years ago connecting vascular responses to noise with prognostic conclusions regarding the development of CVDs. [41] As expected, the study results show a clear reduction of the FPA for all subjects during the noise exposure. With regard to gender, women have already been reported to present lower vascular responses to noise than men [42] as seen also in this study, but with regard to age, only cardiovascular reactivity to nocturnal traffic noise has been reported to decrease with older subjects, [40] whereas vasoconstriction was similar for all groups in that study.…”

Morphological changes of adrenal gland and heart tissue after varying duration of noise exposure in adult rat

“…[1,40] These data might be potentially relevant in contributing to explain the effects induced in humans exposed to loud noise in a variety of environmental conditions.…”