Although the majority of studies on community noise levels and children's physiological stress responses are positive, effect sizes vary considerably, and some studies do not confirm these effects. Employing a contextual perspective congruent with soundscapes, a carefully constructed sample of children (N = 115, M = 10.1 yr) living in households in relatively high (>60 dBA) or low (<50 dBA) noise areas created by proximity to major traffic arterials in Austria was reanalyzed. Several personal and environmental factors known to affect resting cardiovascular parameters measured under well-controlled, clinical conditions were incorporated into the analyses. Children with premature births and elevated chronic stress (i.e., overnight cortisol) were more susceptible to adverse blood pressure responses to road traffic noise. Residence in a multi-dwelling unit as well as standardized assessments of perceived quietness of the area did not modify the traffic noise impacts but each had its own, independent effect on resting blood pressure. A primary air pollutant associated with traffic volume (NO2) had no influence on any of these results. The scope of environmental noise assessment and management would benefit from incorporation of a more contextualized approach as suggested by the soundscape perspective.
REFERENCES
1.
Babisch
, W.
(2011
). “Cardiovascular effects of noise
,” in Encyclopedia of Environmental Health
, edited by J. O.
Nriagu
(Elsevier
, Burlington, MA
), pp. 532
–542
.2.
Babisch
, W.
, Neuhauser
, H.
, Thamm
, M.
, and Seiwert
, M.
(2009
). “Blood pressure of 8–14 year old children in relation to traffic noise at home–results of the German Environmental Survey for Children (GerES IV)
,” Sci. Total. Environ.
407
, 5839
–5843
.3.
Bao
, W.
, Threefoot
, S. A.
, Srinivasan
, S. R.
, and Berenson
, G. S.
(1995
). “Essential hypertension predicted by tracking of elevated blood pressure from childhood to adulthood: The Bogalusa heart study
,” Am. J. Hypertens.
8
, 657
–665
.4.
Barker
, D. J.
(1996
). “The fetal origins of hypertension
,” J. Hypertens. Suppl.
14
, S117
–120
.5.
Barregard
, L.
, Bonde
, E.
, and Öhrström
, E.
(2009
). “Risk of hypertension from exposure to road traffic noise in a population-based sample
,” Occup. Environ. Med.
66
, 410
–415
.6.
Beelen
, R.
, Hoek
, G.
, Houthuijs
, D.
, van den Brandt
, P. A.
, Goldbohm
, R. A.
, Fischer
, P.
, Schouten
, L. J.
, B.
Armstrong
, and B.
Brunekreef
(2009
). “The joint association of air pollution and noise from road traffic with cardiovascular mortality in a cohort study
,” Occup. Environ. Med.
66
, 243
–250
.7.
Belojevic
, G.
, Jakovljevic
, B.
, Stojanov
, V.
, Paunovic
, K.
, and Ilic
, J.
(2008
). “Urban road-traffic noise and blood pressure and heart rate in preschool children
,” Environ. Int.
34
, 226
–231
.8.
Berglund
, B.
, and Nilsson
, M. E.
(2006
). “On a tool for measuring soundscape quality in urban residential areas
,” Acta Acust. Acust.
92
, 938
–944
.9.
Björk
, J.
, Ardö
, J.
, Stroh
, E.
, Lövkvist
, H.
, Östergren
, P.-O.
, and Albin
, M.
(2006
). “Road traffic noise in southern Sweden and its relation to annoyance, disturbance of daily activities and health
,” Scand. J. Work. Environ. Health.
32
, 392
–401
.10.
Bluhm
, G.
, Berglind
, N.
, Nordling
, E.
, and Rosenlund
, M.
(2007
). “Road traffic noise and hypertension
,” Occup. Environ. Med.
64
, 122
–126
.11.
Brambilla
, G.
, and Maffei
, L.
(2010
). “Perspective of the soundscape approach as a tool for urban space design
,” Noise Control Eng. J.
58
, 532
–539
.12.
Braubach
, M.
, Jacobs
, D. E.
, and Ormandy
, D.
(2011
). Environmental burdens of disease associated with inadequate housing, summary report (WHO Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen), pp. 1
–16
.13.
Brown
, A. L.
(2010
). “Soundscapes and environmental noise management
,” Noise Control Eng. J.
58
, 493
–500
.14.
Brummelte
, S.
, Grunau
, R. E.
, Zaidman-Zait
, A.
, Weinberg
, J.
, Nordstokke
, D.
, and Cepeda
, I. L.
(2011
). “Cortisol levels in relation to maternal interaction and child internalizing behavior in preterm and full-term children at 18 months corrected age
,” Dev. Psychobiol.
53
, 184
–195
.15.
Bullinger
, M.
, Von Mackensen
, S.
, and Kirchberger
, I.
(1994
). “KINDL - ein Fragebogen zur Erfassung der gesundheitsbezogenen Lebensqualität von Kindern” (“KINDL - a questionnaire for the assessment of health related quality of life in children”)
, J. Health Psychol.
2
, 64
–77
.16.
Chen
, X.
, and Wang
, Y.
(2008
). “Tracking of blood pressure from childhood to adulthood: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis
,” Circulation
117
, 3171
–3180
.17.
Chongsuvivatwong
, V.
(2011). “R-epicalc library,” http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/epicalc/index.html (Last viewed April 8, 2012).18.
De Coensel
, B.
, Botteldooren
, D.
, De Muer
, T.
, Berglund
, B.
, Nilsson
, M. E.
, and Lercher
, P.
(2009
). “A model for the perception of environmental sound based on notice-events
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
126
, 656
–665
.19.
DeFur
, P. L.
, Evans
, G. W.
, Cohen Hubal
, E. A.
, Kyle
, A. D.
, Morello-Frosch
, R. A.
, and Williams
, D. R.
(2007
). “Vulnerability as a function of individual and group resources in cumulative risk assessment
,” Environ. Health. Perspect.
115
, 817
–824
.20.
De Kluizenaar
, Y.
, T.
Gansevoort
, H. M.
Miedema
, and P. E.
De Jong
(2007
). “Road traffic noise and hypertension
,” J. Occup. Environ. Med.
49
, 484
–492
.21.
Evans
, G. W.
(2003
). “The built environment and mental health
,” J. Urban. Health.
80
, 536
–555
.67.
Evans
, G. W.
, Bullinger
, M.
, and Hygge
, S.
(1998
). “Chronic noise exposure and physiological response: A prospective study of children living under environmental stress
,” Psychol. Sci.
9
(1
), 75
–77
.68.
Evans
, G. W.
, Hygge
, S.
, and Bullinger
, M.
(1995
). “Chronic noise and psychological stress
,” Psychol. Sci.
6
(6
), 333
–338
.22.
Evans
, G. W.
, and Lepore
, S. J.
(1997
). “Moderating and mediating processes in environment-behavior research
,” in Advances in Environment, Behavior, and Design
, edited by G. T.
Moore
and R. W.
Marans
(Plenum
, New York
), Vol. 4
, pp. 255
–285
.23.
Evans
, G. W.
, Lercher
, P.
, Meis
, M.
, Ising
, H.
, and Kofler
, W. W.
(2001
). “Community noise exposure and stress in children
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
109
, 1023
–1027
.24.
Evans
, G. W.
, and Marcynyszyn
, L. A.
(2004
). “Environmental justice, cumulative environmental risk, and health among low- and middle-income children in upstate New York
,” Am. J. Public. Health.
94
, 1942
–1944
.25.
Fields
, J. M.
(1993
). “Effect of personal and situational variables on noise annoyance in residential areas
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
93
, 2753
–2763
.26.
Gidlöf-Gunnarsson
, A.
, and Öhrström
, E.
(2010
). “Attractive ‘quiet’ courtyards: A potential modifier of urban residents' responses to road traffic noise?
,” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health.
7
, 3359
–3375
.27.
Gravett
, M. G.
, Rubens
, C. E.
, and Nunes
, T. M.
(2010
). “Global report on preterm birth and stillbirth (2 of 7): Discovery science
,” BMC Pregnancy Childbirth
10
(Suppl 1
), S2
.28.
Gustafsson
, P. E.
, Janlert
, U.
, Theorell
, T.
, and Hammarström
, A.
(2010
). “Is body size at birth related to circadian salivary cortisol levels in adulthood? Results from a longitudinal cohort study
,” BMC Public Health
10
, 346
.29.
Harrell
, F.
(2001
). Regression Modeling Strategies: With Applications to Linear Models, Logistic Regression, and Survival Analysis
(Springer
, New York)
, pp. 1
–374
.30.
Harrell
, F. E.
, Jr. (2011a
). “R-Hmisc library
,” http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/Hmisc/index.html (Last viewed April 8, 2011).31.
Harrell
, F. E.
Jr. (2011b
). “R-rms library,” http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/rms/index.html (Last viewed April 8, 2011).32.
Hume
, K.
, and Ahtamad
, M.
(2011
). “Physiological responses to and subjective estimates of soundscape elements
,” Appl. Acoustics
74
, 275
–281
.33.
Huss
, A.
, Spoerri
, A.
, Egger
, M.
, and Röösli
, M.
(2010
). “Aircraft noise, air pollution, and mortality from myocardial infarction
,” Epidemiology
21
, 829
–836
.34.
Ising
, H.
, and Ising
, M.
(2002
). “Chronic cortisol increases in the first half of the night caused by road traffic noise
,” Noise Health
4
, 13
–21
.35.
Ising
, H.
, Lange-Asschenfeldt
, H.
, Moriske
, H.-J.
, Born
, J.
, and Eilts
, M.
(2004
). “Low frequency noise and stress: Bronchitis and cortisol in children exposed chronically to traffic noise and exhaust fumes
,” Noise Health
6
, 21
–28
.36.
Janssen
, K. J. M.
, Siccama
, I.
, Vergouwe
, Y.
, Koffijberg
, H.
, Debray
, T. P. A.
, Keijzer
, M.
, Grobbee
, D. E.
, and Moons
, K. G.
(2012
). “Development and validation of clinical prediction models: Marginal differences between logistic regression, penalized maximum likelihood estimation, and genetic programming
,” J. Clin. Epidemiol.
65
, 404
–412
.37.
Job
, R. F. S.
, and Hatfield
, J.
(2001
). “The impact of soundscape, enviroscape, and psychscape on reaction to noise: Implications for evaluation and regulation of noise effects
,” Noise Control Eng. J.
49
, 120
.38.
Kang
, J.
(2011
). “Noise management: Soundscape approach
,” in Encyclopedia of Environmental Health
(Elsevier
, Burlington, MA
), pp. 174
–184
.39.
Kumari
, M.
, Shipley
, M.
, Stafford
, M.
, and Kivimaki
, M.
(2011
). “Association of diurnal patterns in salivary cortisol with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: Findings from the Whitehall II study
,” J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.
96
, 1478
–1485
.40.
Lekaviciute
, J.
, de Kluizenaar
, Y.
, Laszlo
, H.
, Hansell
, A.
, Floud
, S.
, Lercher
, P.
, Babisch
, W.
, and S.
Kephalopolous
(2012
). “Cardiovascular effects of the combined exposure to noise and outdoor air pollution: A review
,” in Proceedings of Internoise 2012
(I-INCE
, New York
).41.
Lepore
, S. J.
, Shejwal
, B.
, Kim
, B. H.
, and Evans
, G. W.
(2010
). “Associations between chronic community noise exposure and blood pressure at rest and during acute noise and non-noise stressors among urban school children in India
,” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health.
7
, 3457
–3466
.42.
Lercher
, P.
(1992
). “Auswirkungen des Straßenverkehrs auf Lebensqualität und Gesundheit: Transitstudie - Sozialmedizinischer Teilbericht” (“Effects of road traffic on quality of life and health: Transit traffic study—Social medicine substudy report”)
(Federal State Government Office, Innsbruck, Austria), p. 17
.43.
Lercher
, P.
(1996
). “Environmental noise and health: An integrated research perspective
,” Environ. Int.
22
, 117
–129
.44.
Lercher
, P.
(2007
). “Environmental noise: A contextual public health perspective
,” in Noise and its Effects
, edited by D.
Luxon
, M.
Linda
, and E.
Prasher
(Wiley
, London
), pp. 345
–377
.45.
Lercher
, P.
, Botteldooren
, D.
, Widmann
, U.
, Uhrner
, U.
, and Kammeringer
, E.
(2011
). “Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: Research in Austria
,” Noise Health
13
, 234
–250
.46.
Lercher
, P.
, Brauchle
, G.
, and Kofler
, W.
(2000
). “The assessment of noise annoyance in schoolchildren and their mothers
,” in Proceedings of Internoise 2000
, edited by D.
Cassereau
(Société Française d'Acoustique
, Nice, France
), Vol. 4
, pp. 2318
–2322
.47.
Lercher
, P.
, de Greve
, B.
, Botteldooren
, D.
, Dekoninck
, L.
, Oettl
, D.
, Uhrner
, U.
, and Rüdisser
, J.
(2008
), “Health effects and major co-determinants associated with rail and road noise exposure along transalpine traffic corridors
,” in Proceedings of ICBEN 2008 “Noise as a Public Health problem
” [CD] (International Commission of the Biological Effects of Noise, Mashantucket, CT), pp. 322–332.48.
Lercher
, P.
, Evans
, G. W.
, Meis
, M.
, and Kofler
, W. W.
(2002
). “Ambient neighbourhood noise and children's mental health
,” Occup. Environ. Med.
59
, 380
–386
.49.
Lercher
, P.
, and Schulte-Fortkamp
, B.
(2003
). “The relevance of soundscape research for the assessment of annoyance at the community level
,” Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem [CD] (Foundation ICBEN, Rotterdam), pp. 225
–231
.50.
Maschke
, C.
, and Hecht
, K.
(2004
). “Stress hormones and sleep disturbances—Electrophysiological and hormonal aspects
,” Noise Health
6
, 49
–54
.51.
Meis
, M.
(1998
). Zur Wirkung von Lärm auf das Gedächtnis: Explizite und implizite Erinnerungsleistungen fluglärmexponierter Kinder im Rahmen einer medizinpsychologischen Längsschnittstudie (On the Effects of Noise on Memory: Explicit and Implicit Memory Performance of Children Exposed to Aircraft Noise in a Medical-Psychological Longitudinal Study) (Verlag Kovac, Hamburg
, Germany), pp. 1
–189
.52.
Miller
, G. E.
, Chen
, E.
, and Parker
, K. J.
(2011
). “Psychological stress in childhood and suceptibility to the chronic diseases of aging: Moving towards a model of behavioral and biological mechanisms
,” Psychol. Bull.
137
, 959
–997
.53.
Morrell
, S.
, Taylor
, R.
, Carter
, N. L.
, Job
, R. F. S.
, and Peploe
, P.
(1998
). “Cross-sectional relationship between blood pressure of school children and aircraft noise
,” in Noise Effects: 7th International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem, Noise Effects 98
, edited by R. F. S.
Job
and N. L.
Carter
(Pty. Ltd.
, Sydney, Australia)
, Vol. 1
, pp. 275
–279
.54.
Öhrström
, E.
, Skanberg
, A.
, Svensson
, H.
, and Gidlof-Gunnarsson
, A.
(2006
). “Effects of road traffic noise and the benefit of access to quietness
,” J. Sound. Vib.
295
, 40
–59
.55.
Paunović
, K.
, Stansfeld
, S.
, Clark
, C.
, and Belojević
, G.
(2011
). “Epidemiological studies on noise and blood pressure in children: Observations and suggestions
,” Environ. Int.
37
, 1030
–1041
.56.
Sato
, T.
, Yano
, T.
, Björkman
, M.
, and Rylander
, R.
(2002
). “Comparison of community response to road traffic noise in Japan and Sweden—Part I: Outline of surveys and dose–response relationships
,” J. Sound. Vib.
250
, 161
–167
.57.
Schöneshöfer
, M.
, Kage
, A.
, Weber
, B.
, Lenz
, I.
, and Köttgen
, E.
(1985
). “Determination of urinary free cortisol by ‘on-line’ liquid chromatography
,” Clin. Chem.
31
, 564
–568
.58.
Schöneshöfer
, M.
, Weber
, B.
, Oelkers
, W.
, Nahoul
, K.
, and Mantero
, F.
(1986
). “Measurement of urinary free 20 alpha-dihydrocortisol in biochemical diagnosis of chronic hypercorticoidism
,” Clin. Chem.
32
, 808
–810
.59.
Schulte-Fortkamp
, B.
, and Fiebig
, A.
(2006
). “Soundscape analysis in a residential area: An evaluation of noise and people's mind
,” Acta Acust. Acust.
92
, 875
–880
.60.
Selander
, J.
, Nilsson
, M. E.
, Bluhm
, G.
, Rosenlund
, M.
, Lindqvist
, M.
, Nise
, G.
, and Pershagen
, G.
(2009
). “Long-term exposure to road traffic noise and myocardial infarction
,” Epidemiology
20
, 272
–279
.61.
Steyerberg
, E. W.
, Borsboom
, G. J. J. M.
, van Houwelingen
, H. C.
, Eijkemans
, M. J. C.
, and Habbema
, J. D. F.
(2004
). “Validation and updating of predictive logistic regression models: A study on sample size and shrinkage
,” Stat. Med.
23
, 2567
–2586
.62.
Truax
, B.
, and Barrett
, G. W.
(2011
). “Soundscape in a context of acoustic and landscape ecology
,” Landscape Ecol.
26
, 1201
–1207
.63.
van Dijk
, A. E.
, van Eijsden
, M.
, Stronks
, K.
, Gemke
, R. J. B. J.
, and Vrijkotte
, T. G. M.
(2010
). “Cardio-metabolic risk in 5-year-old children prenatally exposed to maternal psychosocial stress: The ABCD study
,” BMC Public Health
10
, 251
.64.
van Kempen
, E.
, van Kamp
, I.
, Fischer
, P.
, Davies
, H.
, Houthuijs
, D.
, Stellato
, R.
, Clark
, C.
, and Stansfeld
, S.
(2006
). “Noise exposure and children's blood pressure and heart rate: The RANCH project
,” Occup. Environ. Med.
63
, 632
–639
.65.
Vogelzangs
, N.
, Beekman
, A. T. F.
, Milaneschi
, Y.
, Bandinelli
, S.
, Ferrucci
, L.
, and Penninx
, B. W. J. H.
(2010
). “Urinary cortisol and six-year risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality
,” J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.
95
, 4959
–4964
.66.
Wålinder
, R.
, Gunnarsson
, K.
, Runeson
, R.
, and Smedje
, G.
(2007
). “Physiological and psychological stress reactions in relation to classroom noise
,” Scand. J. Work. Environ. Health.
33
, 260
–266
.© 2013 Acoustical Society of America.
2013
Acoustical Society of America
You do not currently have access to this content.