Health effects of annoyance induced by neighbour noise

Abstract

Traffic noise (road noise, train noise, flight noise, noise of parking cars), is the most dominant source of annoyance in the living environment for many people living in European countries. This is followed by neighbour noise (neighbouring apartments, staircase, playing children and noise within the apartment). The subjective experience of noise stress can, through central nervous processes, lead to an inadequate neuro-endocrine reaction and finally to regulation diseases. Within the context of the WHO-LARES-survey, annoyance induced by neighbour noise was collected and evaluated in connection with reported medically diagnosed illnesses. Adults who indicated chronically severe annoyance by neighbour noise were found to have an increased health risk in the cardio-vascular system, the movement apparatus, as well as increased risk of depression and migraine. With regards to elderly people there is generally a lower risk of noise annoyance induced illness than in other adults. It can be assumed that the effect of noise induced annoyance in older people is concealed by health consequences of age (with a strong increase of illnesses). With children, the effect of noise induced annoyance from neighbour noise is most evident in the respiratory system. The increased illness risks in the respiratory system in children do not seem to be caused primarily by air pollutants, but rather, as a result of emotional stress. Neighbour noise induced annoyance is therefore a highly underestimated risk factor for healthy housing.