Effects of environmental noise on human health

The effects of environmental noise on human health: an epidemiological approach

in PisaDavide PetriImmagini: 123rf.com; T. Eldwell; Andy A.

The sound

What is the sound?!

Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted trough some medium, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing.!

!

But HOW the sound can become a noise?

The noiseSound that is unwanted or that disrupts the activity or balance of human or animal life, is called a Noise. When there is a lot of noise in the environment, it is termed as noise pollution.!

This term comes from the latin nauseas, that means seasickness.

Or from a derivate of Latin word noxia or noceo (I do harm) referring originally to nuisance noise.!

World Health Organization stated that “Noise must be recognized as one of the major threat to human well-being”

Flickr: mararie

The measure of the noiseThe noise, and the sound in general, can be measured in decibels (dB) (1/10 of a bel)!

Named in honor of Alexander Graham Bell, acoustic studious and inventor of the first practical telephone

SOUND LEVEL (dB) PERCEPTION EXAMPLE!

120 Extreme jet take off at 100 m!

100 Loud car horn!

90 Very loud heavy traffic!

80 Very noisy office or traffic!

70 Noisy office or traffic!

60 Average office

50 Noisy normal conversation!

20 Quiet room!

10 Very faint normal breathing

Strength of effects on !human health (*1 IEH 97, *2 Nederlands 97)

[Porter, Flindell, Berry, NPL report CMAM 16, 13]

Levels of hazard dB(A)

[Porter, Flindell, Berry, NPL report CMAM 16, 17]

Generic curve for noise effects versus noise exposure showing three assessment outcomes!

[Porter, Flindell, Berry, NPL report CMAM 16, 23]

Cardiovascular diseases

Noise likely affects the cardiovascular system through the stimulation of hormones such as cortisol, noradrenaline and adrenaline. However, it is not clear how people are able to adapt to these changes when they are exposed to loud noise over a long period.!

Acute physiological reactions to noise include an immediate increase in heart rate and in peripheral vasoconstriction and blood pressure, nevertheless the adaptation to these stimulations it was shown, it was very quick!

[IEH Review, 1997, pagg.10-11]

Sleep disturbanceNoise can disturb sleep not only by waking people up but also by shifting them from deep to light sleep.!

The evidence suggests that air traffic is less likely to cause sleep disturbance than road traffic.

Road traffic is more changeable and less predictable. The time needed to fall asleep has been found to be affected not only by noise intensity of road traffic but also by the number of noise peaks. !

Living less than 20 meters from a busy road has been found to predict insomnia.

[Franssen EAM, Dongen JEF van, Ruysbroek JHM, Vos F, Stellato R Hinder, RIVM rapport 815120001, 2004]

Sleep disturbanceInsomnia and broken sleep are unpleasant experiences and they can lead, the day after, to drowsiness, lower mood and poor performance, including slower reaction times.

Sleep disturbance has been associated with coronary heart disease, but it is also possible that people affected by this illness is susceptible of being woken by noise.

[Lambert & Vallet, 1994]

AnnoyanceAny feeling of resentment, displeasure, discomfort and irritation occurring when a noise intrudes into someone’s thoughts and moods or interferes with activity.

The relationship between social class and annoyance and noise annoyance is consistent. If anything, higher socioeconomic status is related to higher annoyance.

[Franssen EAM, Dongen JEF van, Ruysbroek JHM, Vos F, Stellato R Hinder, RIVM rapport 815120001, 2004]

[Bradley & Jonah, 1979]

[WHO Environmental Health Criteria 12 - Noise, World Health Organization, Geneva, 1980]

Annoyance and sound level

[Babisch W. et al, Annoyance due to aircraft noise has increased over the years—Results of the HYENA study. Environment International, 2009, 35:1169-1176]

Number of studies considerate in this figure:!

20 aircraft noise!

26 road traffic noise!

9 railway noise

[Miedema and Oudshoorn 2001]

Endocrine responsesThe most convincing evidence suggests that the adrenal medullary hormones, adrenaline and noradrenaline, are raised in working populations exposed to high levels of noise, though this has not been confirmed in all studies.

[Buczynski & Kedziora, IEH Review 1994, pag. 30]

Flickr: pamhule

Children’s Cognitive Performance

Specific impacts of chronic exposure to aircraft, rail and road traffic noise on

children’s cognitive performance:!

difficulty in concentrating, !

difficulty in keeping attention, !

difficulty in remembering, especially complex issues, !

poorer reading ability and school performance,!

poorer discrimination between sounds and perception of speech.

Flickr: Libertinus

Moreover...house’s values lossNoise level class

in dB(A)NSDI Value

<45 0

45-50 1.1

50-55 1.3

55-60 1.7

60-65 1.9

>65 1.9

[Udo, Janssen, Kruitwagen, Stilte heeft zjin prjijs, ESB 13/01/06, pgg.14-16]

Sound in the environmentThe noise echoes from the mountain sides and has an effect like an amphitheater. As a result, the sound level is relatively high on the mountain sides. Often from the tops of the mountains you can hear the traffic noise coming from miles away. !

So in Alpine valleys at a distance from 1 to 1.5 km you measure the same sound level as in plains at 280 meters from the road.

Fonte: Tumblr[Heimann et al., ALPNAP, 2007]

The marine environmentThe noise could be really annoying in water environment too, and may be very dangerous for those species living in it. In fact, with the passage from the land to the sea, the animals could not trust the light because it was too weak, so their acoustic instrumentation became really precise and sophisticated.!

Sea animals need silence for:!

orientation!

communication!

predation!

reproduction!

sociality[Arpat, GIONHA, 2012, pag.56]

Is there really a noise effect on wildlife?

Skeptics say “No”!

Habituation to noise is common!

Starling infestation around airports!

‘Bird-blasters’ in vineyards!

Wildlife invading urban areas!

Animals live near highways, railroad, and maglev tracks !

Cows grazing next to maglev test track

Environmentalists say “Yes”!

Interference with communication... especially bird calls!

Masks predation!

Noise frightens animals, just as it does people!

Calls up ‘fight or flight’ response!

Acquatic mammals with ear traumas!

!

[Carl Henson, High Speed train Noise effects on livestock and wildlife]

Researchers say “Maybe”

Transport issues trough wilderness areas

Physical barrier to migration!

Avoidance problem – train/animal collision!

Visual disturbance!

Noise disturbance

Compromised habitat

Flickr: Carol Mitchell[Carl Henson, High Speed train Noise effects on

livestock and wildlife]

Transport issues trough fenced rural areas

Physical barrier!

Visual disturbance!

Noise disturbance

[Carl Henson, High Speed train Noise effects on livestock and wildlife]

How can we reduce the noise?

[Nijland, Van Kempen, Van Wee, Jabben; Costs and benefits of noise abatement measures; 2002, pag.3]

For rail traffic, improving the brakes of freight trains is the most cost-effective measure, if done on a large scale, retrofitting the vast majority of wagons; whereas the construction of low-noise tracks on new railway lines is the less cost effective one.

A focus on rail traffic

The figure shows that the maximum total emission reduction of 7 dB(A ) will be reached when 100% of the freight wagons have low-noise brakes. If this figure is only 50%, a reduction of only 2 dB(A ) is achieved.

[Nijland, Van Kempen, Van Wee, Jabben; Costs and benefits of noise abatement measures; 2002, pag.7]

Mitiga.rumore project

The "mitiga.rumore" project, financed by the ERDF, arises from the need to find alternative solutions to the barriers for reducing railway noise.!

In South Tyrol, because of the topographical conformation, in some cases it is not possible or ineffective the construction of noise barriers. In fact houses are often at an altitude higher than the binary, and the railway line winding curves have relatively narrow angles thus are as particularly noisy.

In South Tyrol

Mitiga.rumore projectRFI has granted the Autonomous Province of Bolzano to install rails on two different types of vibration dampers and lubrication systems.!

Lubrication systems are applied on a stretch of rail in the curve. The friction greater in curves between the wheel and the rail is thus reduced and the noise mitigated, the studies for results are still on going.

The vibration damping rubber and steel, have been applied to the rail fungiform shape on a straight section between the municipalities of Bronzolo and Ora. !

They absorb and dampen the vibrations, with a reduction of 1 db(A), beyond human perception.

We also can take measures!

What people usually do when the noise is too loud?!

Close themselves in house!

Wear earplugs!

Install windows with double glazing!

Use white noise!

Change location

Flickr: Tighten Up!

Cardiovascular effects of environmental railway noise: research in Austria

Peter Lercher and his team have noticed that too few studies were done looking to some kind of connection between rail noise exposure and human health, so they did a survey in 2011 in the Tyrol region, where the railway noise in the nighttime was 3 dB(A) higher than daytime.

[Lercher P, Botteldooren D, Widmann U, Uhrner U, Kammeringer E. Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: Research in Austria. Noise Health 2011;13:234-50]

[Heimann et al., ALPNAP, 2007]

Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: research in Austria

Methods

2 areas: Unterinntal and Wipptal!

5 dBa classes!

Questionnaire: sociodemographic, house, education, perception of noise, lifestyle, health status,...!

Data analysis with a non-parametric linear regression and its 95% confidence interval

Flickr: Dawn Ellner

Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: research in Austria

Results

Annoyance Gender

[Lercher P, Botteldooren D, Widmann U, Uhrner U, Kammeringer E. Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: Research in Austria. Noise Health 2011;13:234-50]

Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: research in Austria Results (adjusted for the other factors)

Age

Family History

Health Status

[Lercher P, Botteldooren D, Widmann U, Uhrner U, Kammeringer E. Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: Research in Austria. Noise Health 2011;13:234-50]

Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: research in Austria Discussion

Males, generally, are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease and women show greater resistance to stress between puberty and menopause. The Tyrol studies show that men did exhibit stronger effects in interactions with noise exposure and older age.!

Although, the findings of the studies suggest the middle age ranges (40-60 years) to be associated with hypertension, but not other ages. !

Family history of hypertension is an established major risk factor for the development of hypertension.!

In both TRANSIT and the ALPNAP studies depressive symptoms or depression diagnosis were significant contributors in an angina pectoris regression model.

The SERA Project

The impact of environmental pollution produced by airports on resident’s health.

!

The purpose of this project is to give a methodology for the start of surveillance systems in matter of noise and atmospheric pollution and related health effects between residents near 6 italian airports.

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The questionnaire comes from a translation of HYENA’s.!But what is HYENA?

HYENA (HYpertension and Exposure to Noise near Airports)(2002-2006) was financed by UE within the 6th program of research that has been considered to be the main target to valuate the impact on blood pressure of road or airport noise.

This project showed a 10% greater risk of hypertension for each increase equal to 10 db(A) in airport noise levels, in citizens living in Amsterdam, Athens, Stockholm, London, Berlin and Milan.

The SERA project in Pisa

!

>300 subjects

1 year

5 researchers

>1000 contacts 4 zones

SERA project: the zones

We divided Pisa in 4 zones:!

Zone 1: High level of planes noise!

Zone 2: Medium level of both plane and car noise!

Zone 3: High level of traffic noise!

Zone 4: control

Isophone map

!

Questionnaire✓ 3 measures of blood pressure!

✓ House!

✓ Education!

✓ Health status and meds!

✓ Annoyance

✓ Job!

✓ Noise annoyance!

✓ Noise perception!

✓ Air pollution!

✓ Sleep

The analysis of databases are still in process at the ARPA Lazio and we’ll know the results as soon as possible.

!

June 21st 2013!

Ten million euros will be given by the government to the families living in via Cariola and Carrareccia to buy another house away from the airport, other three from the region and three from the SAT.

http://iltirreno.gelocal.it/pisa/cronaca/2013/06/21/news/via-cariola-dieci-milioni-dal-governo-1.7298370

AND THEN...

SERFFlickr: sorensiim

The railway situation in PisaFor this study, we considered the two rail stations and the warehouse location. For each station, of course we have several noises, principally related to arrivals and departures, but we mustn’t forget all the human traffic nearby and the consequent chat.

! the arrival noises (squeal of breakes), !the departure noises (changes, simple passage) !the human-related noises (chat chat, speakers, trolleys)

For example in Centrale we can see (and listen too of course!):

1st step: detectionsOnce we decided the locations we selected 30 spots, considering train directions !

before!

in!

after!

+ some points at the warehouse!

With:!

proximity to the railway!

houses with eligible people (minimum 5 years of residence)

the station

During the detection the really important thing to respect was to wait for three train

passages to consider valid the detection itself.

2nd step: data analysis

With the software dbTrait, we retraced the whole measure finding the peaks and, using different colors, giving them a specific source.

3rd step: the choice of the sample

Later I will choose randomly the sample in the roads near the detections, respecting the bonding of residence and closeness to the train tracks. I’m thinking to divide the group in two subgroups characterized by different suffered sounds: one for brake squeal and the other one for simple passages. !

After that the history repeats with the contact of the subjects and the administration of the questionnaire.

4th step: the questionnaireFor this work I want to take the bases of SERA questionnaire and modify it with some new questions that will help me with my study.

In particular I will ask something about the general opinion of the railway stations and trains generally and some questions to separate two different sounds produced by trains: squeal and simple passage.

5th step: data analysis

Then we will insert all the answers into a dedicated software, done appositely for the SERA project. Through this program we will able to process all database doing proper statistics analysis, searching for a correlation between environmental noise and human health. centrofox.org

ExpectationsUsing my experience with the previous study, even if no official result has been published yet, I expect to find a correlation between cardiovascular diseases and environmental noise, especially for those who are older and without structures that can reduce the outside noise. !

I want also to specify that the railway noise is really different from the aircraft and traffic noise, and some people, living from a long time nearby, can be used to that noise.!

Beside, the routes of airplanes and cars are the same everyday; in the train case, unless someone lives near the stations, the railway net is quite huge and well expanded.

Thank you for your attention!

The effects on our body

[NELSON P M, Transportation Noise Reference Book, London: Butterworth & Co, 1987.]

And then...the SERF! Studio Epidemiologico sul Rumore Ferroviario

My future job is right the prosecution of SERA project, after we analyzed how the human health may be influenced by traffic and airplane noise, we would to investigate the next noise source: trains.