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Evidence Base Home » Environmental Noise » Environmental noise causes annoyance which can impact concentration increase aggressive behavior and decrease helping behavior

Articles in Environmental noise causes annoyance, which can impact concentration, increase aggressive behavior, and decrease helping behavior.

  • Frequent annoyance was reported by 13% of subjects exposed to noise levels above 50 dB(A) for 24 hr compared to 2% among those exposed to < 50 dB(A).

    Bluhm G, Nordling E, Berglind N. Road traffic noise and annoyance-an increasing environmental health problem. Noise Health 2004;6:43-49.

  • Starting at about 57 dBs, there is a large increase in percentage of people annoyed by a sound.

    Ohrstrom E, Barregard L, Andersson E, Skanberg A, Svensson H, Angerheim P. 2007. Annoyance due to single and combined sound exposure from railway and road traffic. J Acoust Soc Am 122(5):2642-52.

  • For road traffic at 55 dB, 6% are extremely annoyed, 11% are very annoyed, 19% are moderately annoyed, 45% are slightly annoyed, and 19% are not annoyed at all. At 55 dBs of noise, 43% are annoyed (including extremely, very, and moderately annoyed) by railway noise and 36% by road traffic noise. At higher dB levels (65 dB), almost equal amounts are annoyed by either noise (77% railway, 75% road traffic).

    Ohrstrom E, Barregard L, Andersson E, Skanberg A, Svensson H, Angerheim P. 2007. Annoyance due to single and combined sound exposure from railway and road traffic. J Acoust Soc Am 122(5):2642-52.

  • The relationship between a residence’s distance from a railway and percentage of people annoyed by the noise is linear: From 0 – 50 meters, 80% of people are annoyed. Between 51-100 meters, 62% are annoyed. Between 101 – 150 meters, 50% are annoyed. Between 151 – 200 meters, 49% are annoyed. Between 201 – 250 meters, 37% are annoyed. Between 251 – 300 meters, 24% are annoyed. 1 meter = 3.28 feet.

    Ohrstrom E, Barregard L, Andersson E, Skanberg A, Svensson H, Angerheim P. 2007. Annoyance due to single and combined sound exposure from railway and road traffic. J Acoust Soc Am 122(5):2642-52.

  • The relationship between a residence’s distance from a highway and percentage of people annoyed by the noise is linear. From 0 – 50 meters, 88% of people are annoyed. Between 51-100 meters, 74% are annoyed. Between 101 – 150 meters, 49% are annoyed. Between 151 – 200 meters, 40% are annoyed. Between 201 – 250 meters, 32% are annoyed. Between 251 – 300 meters, 33% are annoyed. 1 meter = 3.28 feet.

    Ohrstrom E, Barregard L, Andersson E, Skanberg A, Svensson H, Angerheim P. 2007. Annoyance due to single and combined sound exposure from railway and road traffic. J Acoust Soc Am 122(5):2642-52.)

  • Combined noise sources may put people at higher risk. In areas exposed to both railway noise and road traffic, the proportion of people annoyed by the total traffic sounds was significantly higher than in areas with one dominant noise source (rail or road traffic), even with the same decibel level. These results were significant starting at 59 dB and increased with higher sound levels.

    Ohrstrom E, Barregard L, Andersson E, Skanberg A, Svensson H, Angerheim P. 2007. Annoyance due to single and combined sound exposure from railway and road traffic. J Acoust Soc Am 122(5):2642-52.

  • Magnetic levitation trains do not cause annoyance levels any different than road traffic, however they do cause annoyance more than a regular intercity train.

    Vos J. 2004. Annoyance caused by the sounds of a magnetic levitation train. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 115(4):1597-1608.

  • Noise can interfere with speech communication outdoors, in the workplace and in the schoolrooms, interfering with the ability of people to perform their work.

    World Health Organization, 1999. Berglund B, Lindvalll T, and Schwela DH, eds. Guidelines for Community Noise.

  • 17% of a major urban city, by scientific measurement, was deemed at risk of noise annoyance.

    Seto EY, Holt A, Rivard T, Bhatia R. 2007. Spatial distribution of traffic induced noise exposures in a US city: an analytic tool for assessing the health impacts of urban planning decisions. International Journal of Health Geographics 6(24).

  • Living along arterial urban streets increased risk of annoyance from noise by 40%. Relative risk of annoyance from living in a high noise area in San Francisco is 2.1 times that of a low noise area.

    Seto EY, Holt A, Rivard T, Bhatia R. 2007. Spatial distribution of traffic induced noise exposures in a US city: an analytic tool for assessing the health impacts of urban planning decisions. International Journal of Health Geographics 6(24).

  • Noise may reduce helping behavior, increase aggression and reduce the processing of social cues seen as irrelevant to task performance.

    Stansfeld SA, Matheson MP. 2003. Noise pollution: non-auditory effects on health. British Medical Bulletin 68:243-257.

  • One meta-analysis of many studies showed that road traffic noise causes more extensive annoyance reactions than railway noise.

    Meidema HME, Oudshoorn CGM. 2001. Annoyance from transportation noise: Relationships with exposure metrics DNL and DENL and their confidence intervals. Environ Health Perspect 109:409-19.