Associations between noise exposure and mental health outcomes like depression and anxiety were less consistent, with some links to inattention
Researchers and clinicians are trying to change this. They’ve shown that noise pollution not only drives hearing loss, tinnitus, and hypersensitivity to sound, but can cause or exacerbate cardiovascular disease; type 2 diabetes; sleep disturbances; stress; mental health and cognition problems, including memory impairment and attention deficits; childhood learning delays; and low birth weight. Scientists are investigating other possible links, including to dementia. [...] ### Heart, felt Another branch of inquiry focuses on how vibrations from noise can cause impairments. Part of the answer lies in the stress-response system. Researchers have found that the more people are bothered by noise, the greater the health risks they face from it. Yet, even those who tune out noise pollution, whether when awake or asleep, experience autonomic stress reactions. [...] Estimates hold that chronic noise exposure contributes to 48,000 new cases of heart disease in Europe each year and disrupts the sleep of 6.5 million people. Quantifying noise pollution’s contribution to health problems and death in the United States, however, remains a challenge because of poor measuring and monitoring, says Peter James, an HMS associate professor of population medicine in Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute’s Department of Population Medicine. This makes it harder to
### 3. Lead to mental health issues When chronic exposure to noise increases stress hormones and affects your central nervous system, the resulting inflammatory state may increase your risk for mental health conditions including anxiety, depression and behavioral issues. One review of previous research reports that several studies associate road traffic noise exposure with mental health. It can increase the risk of depression by 4% and anxiety by 9%. ### 4. Cause cognitive impairment [...] Experts are increasingly recognizing the dangers of loud noise — not only as an environmental pollutant — but also as a serious health risk. After air pollution, noise is the second-largest environmental cause of physical and mental health problems, according to the World Health Organization. The good news is that once you understand the health impact of the noises you hear every day, you can take action to protect yourself. ## What is chronic noise exposure? [...] Over time, exposure to any noise — even typical residential noise — may affect your cognition. Recent evidence shows that living with higher levels of residential noise (averaging 50 to 75 dBA) is directly associated with cognitive impairment in people age 45 and older.
She found that road noise has significant negative effects on mental health, equivalent to around 5% of respondents in the sample reporting mild
in brain tissue by noise (e.g. neuroinflammation, cerebral oxidative stress), feedback signaling by remote organ damage, dysregulated immune cells, and impaired circadian clock may also play important roles in noise-dependent impairment of mental health. Based on the mechanistic findings on noise research, it is evident that there is a substantial pathomechanistic overlap with mental health conditions, such as depression, that are all linked to cerebral oxidative stress and inflammation. By [...] It is generally challenging to identify biochemical correlates of mental health, as mental health is not a single disease, but a collection of complex psychological states with overlapping signs and symptoms. However, anxiety, depression and general mental stress have been associated with activation of certain neurological and endocrine pathways. Anxiety and depression are both correlated with fear and stress via the autonomic nervous system . Noise-induced stress responses activate the [...] than daytime noise [21,22,23]. We also observed increases in levels of circulating catecholamines (adrenaline and noradrenaline) in a mouse model of 3-day aircraft noise exposure . These experimental data point to a biological state associated with anxiety- and depression-like symptoms, but more preclinical research is needed to draw a strong correlation. Mechanistic findings from animal models have been used to produce a stress response pathway that enables us to better understand the
(_p_< 0.001) . Some authors have observed an association between aircraft noise annoyance and psychological distress, with a ORs of 4.00 (CI 1.67–9.55) for extremely annoyed people . Only one article included in this research assessed the effects of construction site noise on residents. Liu found that this problem affects mental activities and sleeping more than watching TV or listening to music, more so in the morning (_p_< 0.05) . Exposure–response relationships for waking, falling asleep, [...] the most widespread reported disorders associated with environmental noise . Tiredness, headaches and other psychological conditions are also associated with noise in adult populations [17,18,19]. Psychological distress has been recognized as a substantial public health problem and as a leading cause of morbidity and disability . It accounts for most of the community burden of poor mental health . It has been estimated that around 25% of the EU population experience a deterioration in quality [...] the GHQ-12 . Only studies in Japan and in Spain have shown a significant correlation between aircraft noise exposure and moderate/severe somatic symptoms identified by the GHQ-28 and GHQ-12 in people sensitive to noise [112,114]. High noise sensitivity was identified by Stansfeld et al. , as a predictor of psychological distress using the GHQ-30. It is often also necessary to consider the reciprocal relationship between the different factors. Thus, extremely annoyed people can develop
But now let’s take mental health. I wish you would be in my home when I get a call from someone who has a noise problem, the anguish, the distress, the unhappiness, the frustration of not having this being resolved, having been exposed to neighbor noise maybe 5, 6 years, having been exposed to noise coming from a venue in the neighborhood. Those are psychological effects, distress, disturbance. Now while the stress which comes with stress and disturbance can lead to physiological disorders, the [...] disorders, the mental discomfort and anguish and unhappiness has been identified throughout the world. [...] Bronzaft: We know sound is a physical phenomenon and it goes through our ears and it gets to our brain and we identify the sound. That’s sound. But when you talk about noise, you’re talking about sounds that are unwanted, intrusive, bothersome, disturbing. And now because of literature as you cited linking noise to adverse mental and health effects, we now say that noise is an environmental pollutant. And let me add that noise doesn’t have to be loud to be that disturbing. Picture yourself
by J Shi · 2023 · Cited by 45 — Residential traffic noise was associated with probable depression and poorer mental wellbeing among students and individuals aged 15–34 years.