The associations between noise sensitivity, reported physical and mental health, perceived environmental quality, and noise annoyance.

One hundred and ninety residents around Frankfurt Airport (46% female; 17-80 years) were interviewed concerning noise annoyance due to transportation noise (aircraft, road traffic), perceived mental and physical health, perceived environmental quality, and noise sensitivity. The aim of the analyses was to test whether noise sensitivity reflects partly general environmental sensitivity and is associated with an elevated susceptibility for the perception of mental and physical health. In this study, the reported physical and mental health variables were not associated with noise exposure but with noise annoyance, and were interpreted to reflect nonspecific codeterminants of annoyance rather than noise effects. Noise sensitivity was found to influence total noise annoyance and aircraft noise annoyance but to a lesser degree annoyance due to road traffic noise. Noise sensitivity was associated with reported physical health, but not with reported mental health. Noise-sensitive persons reported poorer environmental quality in their residential area than less sensitive persons in particular with regard to air traffic (including the facets noise, pollution, and contaminations) and quietness. Other aspects of the perceived quality of the environment were scarcely associated with noise sensitivity. This indicates that noise sensitivity is more specific and a reliable predictor of responses to noise from the dominant source (in this case air traffic) rather than a predictor of the individual perception of the environmental quality in general.

[1]  S. Stansfeld,et al.  Noise, noise sensitivity and psychiatric disorder: epidemiological and psychophysiological studies. , 1993, Psychological medicine.

[2]  D. Watson,et al.  Health complaints, stress, and distress: exploring the central role of negative affectivity. , 1989, Psychological review.

[3]  H. Vos,et al.  Demographic and attitudinal factors that modify annoyance from transportation noise , 1999 .

[4]  B. Jakovljević,et al.  Subjective reactions to traffic noise with regard to some personality traits , 1997 .

[5]  R. Stieglitz.  Bullinger, M. & Kirchberger, I. (1998). SF-36. Fragebogen zum Gesundheitszustand. Göttingen: Hogrefe. Preis DM 298,- , 1999 .

[6]  D. Watson,et al.  Negative affectivity: the disposition to experience aversive emotional states. , 1984, Psychological bulletin.

[7]  S. Nordin,et al.  The Chemical Sensitivity Scale: Psychometric properties and comparison with the noise sensitivity scale , 2003 .

[8]  R. Job.  Community response to noise: A review of factors influencing the relationship between noise exposure and reaction , 1988 .

[9]  J. Gallacher,et al.  Road traffic noise, noise sensitivity and psychological disorder. , 1993, Schriftenreihe des Vereins fur Wasser-, Boden- und Lufthygiene.

[10]  M. Miyakawa,et al.  Noise sensitivity and subjective health: questionnaire study conducted along trunk roads in Kusatsu, Japan. , 2009, Noise & health.

[11]  I. D. Griffiths,et al.  Individual differences in sensitivity to traffic noise: An empirical study , 1977 .

[12]  Andrew Hede,et al.  REACTION TO AIRCRAFT NOISE IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS AROUND AUSTRALIAN AIRPORTS , 1986 .

[13]  Monika Bullinger,et al.  SF-36, Fragebogen zum Gesundheitszustand , 1998 .

[14]  Goran Belojevic,et al.  Factors influencing subjective noise sensitivity in an urban population. , 2001, Noise & health.

[15]  S A Stansfeld,et al.  Sensitivity to noise in a community sample: II. Measurement of psychophysiological indices , 1985, Psychological Medicine.

[16]  P. Lercher,et al.  Perceived traffic air pollution, associated behavior and health in an alpine area. , 1995, The Science of the total environment.

[17]  Neil D. Weinstein,et al.  Individual differences in critical tendencies and noise annoyance , 1980 .

[18]  Dirk Schreckenberg,et al.  Effects of Aircraft Noise on Noise Annoyance and Quality of Life around Frankfurt Airport , 2007 .

[19]  B. Griefahn,et al.  Mood and cardiovascular functions during noise, related to sensitivity, type of noise and sound pressure level , 1992 .

[20]  Bellach Bm,et al.  Der Bundes-Gesundheitssurvey 1997/98 , 1998 .

[21]  J. Fields.  Effect of personal and situational variables on noise annoyance in residential areas , 1993 .

[22]  Andrew Paul Smith,et al.  Aircraft Noise Exposure, Noise Sensitivity, and Everyday Errors , 1986 .

[23]  Evy Öhrström,et al.  Effects of noise on mental performance with regard to subjective noise sensitivity , 1992, International archives of occupational and environmental health.

[24]  Chika Sakashita,et al.  Conceptual differences between experimental and epidemiological approaches to assessing the causal role of noise in health effects , 2008 .

[25]  J. Kaprio,et al.  The association of noise sensitivity with coronary heart and cardiovascular mortality among Finnish adults. , 2007, The Science of the total environment.

[26]  R. Job.  Noise sensitivity as a factor influencing human reaction to noise. , 1999, Noise & health.

[27]  Mathias Basner,et al.  Event-related awakenings caused by nocturnal transportation noise. , 2008 .

[28]  A. Marks,et al.  Associations between noise sensitivity and sleep, subjectively evaluated sleep quality, annoyance, and performance after exposure to nocturnal traffic noise. , 2007, Noise & health.

[29]  Takashi Yano,et al.  STANDARDIZED GENERAL-PURPOSE NOISE REACTION QUESTIONS FOR COMMUNITY NOISE SURVEYS: RESEARCH AND A RECOMMENDATION , 2001 .

[30]  Gregory Neely,et al.  Stress, subjective experience and cognitive performance during exposure to noise and vibration , 2007 .

[31]  A. Marks,et al.  The development of the noise sensitivity questionnaire. , 2007, Noise & health.

[32]  H. Vos,et al.  Noise sensitivity and reactions to noise and other environmental conditions. , 2003, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[33]  M. E. Bryan,et al.  Noise annoyance susceptibility , 1972 .

[34]  M. Björkman,et al.  Noise annoyance with regard to neurophysiological sensitivity, subjective noise sensitivity and personality variables , 1988, Psychological Medicine.

[35]  F. J. Langdon.  Noise nuisance caused by road traffic in residential areas: Part III , 1976 .

[36]  S. Stansfeld,et al.  Sensitivity to noise in a community sample: I. Measurement of psychiatric disorder and personality , 1985, Psychological Medicine.

[37]  A. Muzet,et al.  Cardiovascular responses to noise: Effects of self-estimated sensitivity to noise, sex, and time of the day , 1987 .

[38]  R. Job,et al.  The role of noise sensitivity in the noise-response relation: a comparison of three international airport studies. , 2004, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[39]  Ragnar Rylander,et al.  Noise sensitivity and road traffic annoyance in a population sample , 1991 .

[40]  J. Vaidya,et al.  The two general activation systems of affect: Structural findings, evolutionary considerations, and psychobiological evidence , 1999 .

[41]  J. Kaprio,et al.  Somatic and Psychological Characteristics of Noise-Sensitive Adults in Finland , 2004, Archives of environmental health.

[42]  Rudolf Schuemer,et al.  Differences between railway and road traffic noise , 2000 .

[43]  G. Winneke,et al.  Psychological Response to Sensory Stimulation by Environmental Stressors: Trait or State? , 1992 .

[44]  R. Wiggins,et al.  The effect of aircraft noise on the mental health of a community sample: a pilot study , 1978, Psychological Medicine.

[45]  E. Oehrstroem.  EFFECTS OF LOW LEVELS OF ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE DURING THE NIGHT: A LABORATORY STUDY ON NUMBER OF EVENTS, MAXIMUM NOISE LEVELS AND NOISE SENSITIVITY , 1995 .

[46]  N. Weinstein.  Individual differences in reactions to noise: a longitudinal study in a college dormitory. , 1978, The Journal of applied psychology.

[47]  Hans J. Eysenck,et al.  Manual of the Eysenck personality questionnaire , 1975 .

[48]  M. Björkman,et al.  Effects of noise-disturbed sleep: a laboratory study on habituation and subjective noise sensitivity , 1988 .

[49]  M. Nivison,et al.  An analysis of relationships among environmental noise, annoyance and sensitivity to noise, and the consequences for health and sleep , 1993, Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

[50]  Wolfgang Ellermeier,et al.  Psychometric properties of four measures of noise sensitivity: a comparison , 1999 .

[51]  S. Dornič,et al.  Extraversion, neuroticism, and noise sensitivity , 1990 .

[52]  Ragnar Rylander,et al.  Low frequency noise enhances cortisol among noise sensitive subjects during work performance. , 2002, Life sciences.

[53]  O. Iwata,et al.  The relationship of noise sensitivity to health and personality , 1984 .