Regardless of the level of noise, persons with high annoyance reported more mental and physical symptoms and used more psychotropic drugs, general practice and outpatient services. However, chronic symptoms were higher in the areas with comparatively lower noise level. In a cross-sectional survey of residential areas stratified by aircraft noise level,, annoyance was associated with an increase of noise level and with acute mental and physical symptoms. Thus, it is surprising that the effect of noise on mental health has so far been infrequently studied in adults. Central to most contemporary etiological theories is the notion that stress can initiate cognitive and biological processes that increase the risk for depression and for anxiety disorders. Comorbid somatic and mental disorders carry higher burdens when compared to somatic disorders without mental comorbidities and mental disorders without somatic comorbidities. Depression and anxiety disorders rank among the disorders with the strongest impact, as reflected by years lived with disability and reduced quality of life. The burden of mental disorders is quite high and disabling. While there is a clear relationship between the objective measurement of noise and annoyance, individual factors such as noise sensitivity, internal states (genetic, physiological, psychological, life style) that increase individuals’ reactivity to noise in general may play an important role. It is estimated that DALYs (disability adjusted life years) from environmental noise in the Western European countries are 61,000 years for ischemic heart disease, 45,000 years for cognitive impairment for children, 903,000 for sleep disturbance, 22,000 years for tinnitus and 587,000 for annoyance solely. Severe annoyance has been associated with reduced well-being and health, and because of the high number of people affected, annoyance contributes substantially to the burden of disease from environmental noise. Noise annoyance can result from interference with daily activities, feelings, thoughts, sleep, or rest, and may be accompanied by negative emotional responses, such as irritability, distress, exhaustion, a wish to escape the noise and other stress-related symptoms. Īnnoyance is the most prevalent community response in a population exposed to environmental noise. If experienced chronically, stress caused by annoyance may even trigger the development of cardiovascular disease. The activation of fight–flight and defeat reactions is thought to involve subcortical regions of the brain like the hypothalamus, which has inputs to the autonomic nervous system, the endocrine, and the limbic system. Both reaction chains may initiate physiological stress reactions. Both, noise level and noise annoyance have been shown to be associated with cardiovascular disorders. The ‘indirect’ pathway refers to the cognitive perception of the sound, its cortical activation and related emotional responses such as annoyance. The ‘direct’ pathway is determined by the instantaneous interaction of the acoustic nerve with different structures of the central nervous system. These refer to the ‘direct’ and the ‘indirect’ arousal and activation of the organism. Īccording to the noise reaction model, two principal pathways are relevant for the development of adverse health effects of noise.

Meanwhile numerous studies have shown that noise contributes to sleep disturbance, to the development of arterial hypertension, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, arrhythmia, metabolic syndrome and stroke (for review see ) and also to learning, respectively emotional difficulties in children.

If exposure to noise is chronic and exceeds certain levels, adverse health outcomes can be seen. Although people tend to habituate to noise exposure, the degree of habituation differs substantially between individuals and is rarely complete.

Non-auditory effects of noise occur at levels far below those required to damage the hearing organ.

Noise, defined as ‘unwanted sound’ has gradually become increasingly acknowledged as an environmental stressor and as a nuisance.

Annoying sounds made randomly