Self-report of transportation noise exposure, annoyance and noise sensitivity in relation to noise map information

Self-report of noise exposure was compared with the information on noise maps while taking into account measures of self-reported annoyance and noise sensitivity. Self-report data were analyzed for 1495 subjects participating in a case-control study of hypertension from the Finnish Twin Cohort who had replied to a questionnaire in 1988. In addition, noise map information was included in analyses of the 218 study subjects living in the Metropolitan Area of Helsinki. The results show that: (1) In the factor analysis based on all subjects self-report of transportation noise exposure formed an own factor independent of the annoyance variables or noise sensitivity. Annoyance items loaded on to two different factors termed nighttime and daytime annoyance. Noise sensitivity did not load to either of the factors of annoyance. For the subsample with noise map information, the results indicated that: (2) Noise sensitivity was independent of noise map information. (3) Subjects with high noise sensitivity reported more transportation noise exposure than subjects with low noise sensitivity and they reported aircraft, railway and road traffic noise exposure outside the environmental noise map areas almost twice as often as non-sensitive subjects. (4) Noise map information and self-report of noise exposure were consistently associated when aircraft noise was considered. Self-report of noise related items may supplement noise map information in noise protection.