Although accumulating evidence over the past two decades points towards noise as an ambient stressor for children, all of the data emanate from studies in high-intensity, noise impact zones around airports or major roads. Extremely little is known about the nonauditory consequences of typical, day-to-day noise exposure among young children. The present study examined multimethodological indices of stress among children living under 50 dB or above 60 dB (A-weighted, day-night average sound levels) in small towns and villages in Austria. The major noise sources were local road and rail traffic. The two samples were comparable in parental education, housing characteristics, family size, marital status, and body mass index, and index of body fat. All of the children were prescreened for normal hearing acuity. Children in the noisier areas had elevated resting systolic blood pressure and 8-h, overnight urinary cortisol. The children from noisier neighborhoods also evidenced elevated heart rate reactivity to a discrete stressor (reading test) in the laboratory and rated themselves higher in perceived stress symptoms on a standardized index. Furthermore girls, but not boys, evidenced diminished motivation in a standardized behavioral protocol. All data except for the overnight urinary neuroendocrine indices were collected in the laboratory. The results are discussed in the context of prior airport noise and nonauditory health studies. More behavioral and health research is needed on children with typical, day-to-day noise exposure.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
March 2001
March 01 2001
Community noise exposure and stress in children
Gary W. Evans;
Gary W. Evans
Design and Environmental Analysis, Human Developments, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-4401
Search for other works by this author on:
Peter Lercher;
Peter Lercher
Institute of Social Medicine, University of Innsbruck, Sonnenburgstrasse 16, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Search for other works by this author on:
Markus Meis;
Markus Meis
Institute for Research into Man-Environment-Relations, Department of Psychology, University of Oldenburg, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
Hartmut Ising;
Hartmut Ising
Federal Environmental Agency, Institute for Water, Soil, and Air Hygiene, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
Walter W. Kofler
Walter W. Kofler
Institute of Hygiene and Social Medicine, Section Social Medicine and School of Public Health, University of Innsbruck, Sonnenburgstrasse 16, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Search for other works by this author on:
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 109, 1023–1027 (2001)
Article history
Received:
June 19 2000
Accepted:
November 23 2000
Citation
Gary W. Evans, Peter Lercher, Markus Meis, Hartmut Ising, Walter W. Kofler; Community noise exposure and stress in children. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 March 2001; 109 (3): 1023–1027. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1340642
Download citation file:
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Citing articles via
Vowel signatures in emotional interjections and nonlinguistic vocalizations expressing pain, disgust, and joy across languages
Maïa Ponsonnet, Christophe Coupé, et al.
The alveolar trill is perceived as jagged/rough by speakers of different languages
Aleksandra Ćwiek, Rémi Anselme, et al.
A survey of sound source localization with deep learning methods
Pierre-Amaury Grumiaux, Srđan Kitić, et al.
Related Content
The ecological context of soundscapes for children's blood pressure
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (July 2013)
Label free selective detection of estriol using graphene oxide-based fluorescence sensor
J. Appl. Phys. (July 2014)