Effects of Traffic Noise on Sleep: A Review

Transcription

1 Jpn. J. Hyg., 50, (1995) Effects of Traffic Noise on Sleep: A Review Tomoyuki KAWADA Department of Public Health, Gunma University School of Medicine, Maebashi Abstract Examination of the effect of noise on sleep indicated the following: 1) Views differ on habituation to noise. 2) REM sleep in all-night sleep decreases with exposure to noise. The probability of transient changes of REM sleep to other stages is low. REM sleep induction may be disturbed by noise exposure, but once it has been induced, changes to other stages or waking occur only to a small extent. 3) A transient decrease in sleep spindles is caused by noise exposure, but the number of sleep spindles for all-night sleep increases. Sleep disturbance by noise is compensated for by an increase in sleep spindles during periods of silence, possibly indicating sleep maintenance. 4) Under certain circumstances, subjective sleep is a better indicator of the effects of noise on sleep than objective sleep parameters determined by sleep polygraphy. 5) There is a linear dose-response relationship between the peak noise level and the rate of stage shift or waking. The threshold of the noise effect is about 40 dba. Key words: Noise, Sleep polygraphy, Subjective sleep, Dose-response relationship, Transient and all-night sleep level, differences in peak and background levels, equivalent level (Leq), intermittence, duration and meaning of noise are all related to sleep. An intermittent high peak level of noise has a more adverse effect on health5). However, comparing reesults is sometimes difficult because of the lack of standardization of exposure noise. A precise were exposed to passing truck noise less than 20 times a night with a peak level of 65 dba. The probability of a shift to shallower sleep and the amount of deep sleep demonstrated failure of Reprint requests to: Tomoyuki Kawada, Department of Public Health, Gunma University School of Medicine, , Showa, Maebashi, Gunma 371, Japan

2 adaptation over 24 successive nights. The probability of awakening decreased by almost one half in two weeks. Griefahn also studied habituation of 36 students to high-density road traffic noise and detected noise on sleep for 12 consecutive an all-night effect of nights13). Deep sleep was prolonged and shallow sleep including intermittent wakefulness became progressively shorter at 37 to 63.5 dba. that there is no habituation to noise14). According to experiments Vallet at al. indicate on subjects living in a noisy environment for more than four years, young subjects showed less deep sleep and older subjects, less REM sleep under conditions of silence. Both Di Nisi et al. and Ohrstrom reported that there seems to be no habituation to noise exposure15),16). They exposed subjects to randomly distributed noise and it was impossible to predict either the time of exposure or the type of noise presented. no definite habituation Their interval of noise exposure and there was only one pattern noise. Kawada and Suzuki could find to a noisy environment17). was 15 minutes of passing truck Essentially the same noise characteristics are reported by Thiessen, but the findings differed from each other. Based on inter-individual variation in sensitivity to noise, habituation should differ according to the person. 3. All-night and transient effects of noise on sleep: REM and sleep spindles A decrease in slow wave sleep due to exposure to road traffic noise is indicated by several reports18),19). The effects of noise on REM sleep still remain controversial. A decrease in REM sleep due to noise exposure is reported by some9),13),14),20), but not by others8),9). A field survey in which transient and all-night effects of noise on sleep were evaluated simultaneously was made in this regard9). In a noisy environment, subjects were exposed to noise with a peak level of over 40 dba more than 400 times per night, and to noise with a lower peak level about 200 times per night in a controlled environment. There was no habituation in parameters of all-night sleep but there was habituation in transient changes from REM sleep to other sleep stages. Wilkinson and Allison noted a transient decrease in REM but an increase in REM sleep for all-night sleep19). The present author and colleagues confirmed REM sleep in all-night sleep to be decreased by noise exposure in an experimental Dose-response relationships between road traffic noise and sleep have been established for transient responses to road traffic noise based on studies using small numbers of subjects, although it is known that effects may vary according to the duration of road traffic noise. There are large inter-individual and intra-individual differences regarding the response to noise, which may lead to different conclusions if the number in the sample is not adequate. To ascertain transient effects of noise on sleep, subjects were exposed to the noise of passing trucks, especially during stage 2 and REM17). The threshold of noise exposure was under 45 dba in stage 2 and over 60 dba in REM. In general, sleep spindles maintain sleep whose density increases, especially in the second half of all-night sleep, when the depth of sleep gradually decreases. To count the number of sleep spindles in an epoch consisting of 20 seconds, Aoki's system26) was used. The number of spindles per epoch decreased just after noise exposure with peak levels of 55, 60, 65 dba. The number then recovered and the average number of spindles per epoch for the entire night increased. Compensation by sleep spindles should serve to prevent sleep disturbance due to noise27). 4. Subjective and objective sleep parameters: differences in sensitivity Wakefulness has been studied by sleep polygraphy28), self-report5),29), and through the use of a physiological movement apparatus in bed5). Subjective sleep quality is self-reported the next morning using questionnaires such as OSA30) or

3 Jpn. J. Hyg., Vol. 50, No. 5, December 1995 Fig. 1 Diagram of the effects the St. Mary's hospital sleep questionnaire31). A field survey in Europe, including 1,000 night data on the effects of noise on sleep suggests that a noisy environment makes subjective evaluation of noise on human in Figure 1). 5. Dose-response relationship and threshold of noise effects on sleep of sleep more difficult20). Sleep disturbance by road traffic noise for subjects aged from 41 to 43 A dose-response relationship has been demonstrated between noise peak level and objec- was 6.8%32). Short waking periods of several minutes during night sleep may make the detec- tive sleep parameters39). There is a linear correlation from 30 to 80dB10),40) The probability of tion of wakefulness impossible, and deep daytime sleepiness may occur if short awakening frequently occurs33). The real value self-reported sleep waking is 18% at 50dB and 42% at 70dB10). Thiessen found the probability of waking to be disturbance probability of a stage shift without waking is 38% at 50dB and 73% at 70dB. At a peak level of 68 dba, the stage shift over one stage is one third may thus be underestimated34). Objective sleep parameters such as sleep polygraphy data reflect primary effects on humans because information is monitored during sleep. In contrast, subjective sleep parameters reflect secondary effects on humans, information is reported after sleep. because Primary effects are usually more sensitive to noise than secondary effects35),36). Concerning this point, the author considers secondary effects to possibly be more sensitive than primary effects37). Griefahn drew a diagram of primary and secon- 12.7% at 47dB and 30.6% at 60dB40). The and the probability of waking is 1/938).(Figure 2) With increases in the frequency of noise stimulation, the number of stage shifts increases for 35 exposures, resulting in 3.5 awakenings on the average. More frequent stimulation decreases the waking rate38). Transient alpha and delta band waves increase with the peak noise level19), but delta band waves decrease for all-night sleep with noise exposure18),19). dary effects of noise on humans38) and the author has indicated another pathway to secondary night The threshold effects without any relation to primary effects ($ dba13),41 44). 934 sleep value of noise effects on all- is generally Sleep latency considered becomes to be 40 greater at

4 Fig. 2 Percentage of waking and stage shift by noise exposure (Thiessen et al.) peak levels of 50 or 60 dba5). The above findings were obtained by sleep polygraphy. 6. Conclusion The effects of noise on sleep were evaluated in relation to the follwing. First, the effect of all-night noise exposure on sleep differs from that of transient noise exposure. REM sleep is the most sensitive indicator of the all-night effect, but the threshold of REM to transient noise is high and REM is stable against noise exposure. Second, objective sleep parameters are generally more sensitive than subjective ones, but subjective sleep has been shown to be more sensitive than objective sleep in one case. The evaluation of noise effects on sleep should be done using both subjective and objective sleep parameters. Third, a linear dose-response relationship between noise level and sleep parameters has been reported and the threshold of the noise effect to sleep is 40 dba. Acknowledgments The author is thankful to Prof. Shosuke SUZUKI (Dept. of Public Health, Gunma Univ. School of Med.) for his continuous support and advice. References 1) Lukas, J.S.: Noise and sleep: A literature review and a proposed criterion for assessing effect, J.Acoust. Soc. Am., 58, (1975). 2) Gros, E., Griefahn, B. and Lang, D.: Sleep disturbance caused by noise: Analysis of a cross-sectional inquiry, In "Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem Vol. 2" (Editor: G. Rossi), Centro Ricerche e Studio Amplifon, Milano (1983). 3) Ohrstrom, E., Rylander, R. and Bjorkman, M.: Effects of night time road traffic noise- An overview of laboratory and field studies on noise dose and subjective noise sensitivity, J. Sound Vib., 127, (1988). 4) Ohrstrom, E. and Rylander, R.: Sleep disturbance by road traffic noise-a laboratory study on number of noise events, J. Sound Vib., 143, (1990). 5) Ohrstrom, E. and Rylander, R.: Sleep disturbance effects of traffic noise: A laboratory study on aftereffects, J. Sound Vib., 84, 87-

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