Noise Effects on Sleep
Environmental noise from transportation sources, particularly aircraft, represents a significant public health concern affecting millions of people worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 900,000 healthy life years are lost annually in Europe alone due to noise-induced sleep disturbance. Exposure to environmental noise triggers physiological stress responses including elevated heart rate and blood pressure, while chronic exposure is linked to serious health outcomes including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cognitive impairment, and mental health issues. Sleep is particularly vulnerable to noise disruption due to the "watchman" function of the human auditory system, which allows it to remain active during sleep to monitor threats. Therefore, disruptions can cause fragmented sleep, reduce sleep quality, and impair recuperation even when people don't consciously wake up.
Aircraft noise presents unique challenges due to its intermittent but high-intensity nature, penetration through building structures, and community-wide impact affecting large populations simultaneously. Despite its importance, research in the U.S. on this topic has lagged, with the most recent comparable sleep study having been conducted in 1996. In the interim, both U.S. air traffic patterns and sleep study methodology have significantly changed. Current U.S. policy relies on a Day-Night Average Sound Level of 65 dB as the threshold for significant noise impact; however, recent surveys show increased community annoyance at the same noise levels compared to historical data, despite newer aircraft technology. This created an urgent need for updated research using modern physiological measurement techniques to inform current policy decisions. Our department works to address these topics through objective measurement of sleep disruption using ECG and movement monitoring to detect awakenings caused by aircraft noise, both under the controlled conditions of our laboratory and in the real world, collecting field data in subjects' homes.
Aviation Noise
This large-scale project was a joint effort led by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the ASCENT Center of Excellence to collect nationally-representative data in order to inform public policy and future FAA regulations by investigating by the relationship between aircraft maximum sound pressure level LASmax inside the bedroom and awakening probability determined by changes in heart rate and body movement. The study represented 77 airports across 39 states spanning a variety of noise strata, with thousands of nights of data collected: acoustic measures, surveys, physiological heart rate, body movement, sleep quality and awakenings. This represents a significant advancement in methodology for collecting field data using objective, physiological, non-invasive measures, and will contribute monumentally to public knowledge regarding the effects of environmental noise, particularly aircraft, on sleep and health.
Read more here: Effects of Aircraft Noise on Sleep: Federal Aviation Administration National Sleep Study Protocol
This study examined the effects of aircraft noise on sleep quality among residents living near Philadelphia International Airport using unattended physiological monitoring equipment to measure heart rate and body movements during sleep. We found a significant exposure-response relationship between aircraft noise maximum sound pressure levels and awakening probability. Additionally, residents near the airport reported poorer sleep quality and poorer health than the control group in general questionnaires, but interestingly, there was no significant difference found between groups when asked about the specific night.
Read more here: Aircraft Noise Effects on Sleep—Results of a Pilot Study Near Philadelphia International Airport
The Atlanta pilot study examined the effects of aircraft noise on sleep quality among residents living near Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport using unattended physiological monitoring equipment and mailed surveys. We found that increases in nighttime aircraft noise was associated with significantly higher odds of self-reported poor sleep quality, use of sleep aids, and annoyance due to noise, and self-reported awakenings and morning tiredness increased significantly with higher maximum aircraft noise levels during sleep.
Read more here: On the feasibility of measuring physiologic and self-reported sleep disturbance by aircraft noise on a national scale: A pilot study around Atlanta airport
Survey results of a pilot sleep study near Atlanta International Airport
Pilot Field Study on the Effects of Aircraft Noise on Sleep Around Atlanta International Airport
The study is funded by the UK Department for Transport (DfT) and is a collaboration between St George’s, University of London, NatCen Social Research, Noise Consultants Limited, and the University of Pennsylvania. This is the first study of aviation noise effects on sleep disturbance in the UK for 30 years.
Read more here: The Aviation Night Noise Effects (ANNE) Study
Ambient & Targeted Noise Exposure
After conducting a comprehensive systematic review in 2021 examining whether continuous white noise and similar broadband sounds improved sleep outcomes for humans in heterogeneous circumstances, we proceeded to conduct a study under controlled laboratory conditions to investigate whether some of the sleep disturbing effects of noise events can be mitigated by introducing broadband noise into the bedroom or by wearing earplugs.
Learn about the study here: Study on the Use of Broadband Sound to Mitigate Sleep Disruption Due to Aircraft Noise
Listen to a podcast with Emily Burkhart on German public radio (SWR) on the effects of broadband noise on sleep (2024)
As a public health issue, noise is often overlooked when compared to other environmental factors such as air quality pollution or light exposure. However, it has been shown to have negative impacts on human health and wellbeing.
In 2014, Dr. Basner co-authored a comprehensive review on the Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health.
In 2019, Dr. Basner and a team of experts helped compile the World Health Organization's report on Environmental noise guidelines for the European Region using public health data and research in order to provide recommendations for protecting human health from exposure to environmental noise originating from various sources: transportation (road traffic, railway and aircraft) noise, wind turbine noise and leisure noise.
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