EFFECTS OF ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE ON INHABITANTS OF TOKYO

✍ Scribed by T. Yoshida; Y. Osada; T. Kawaguchi; Y. Hoshiyama; K. Yoshida; K. Yamamoto

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 119 KB
• Volume: 205
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-460X
• DOI: 10.1006/jsvi.1997.1020

✦ Synopsis

A questionnaire-based study was performed in an area of about 16 ha near a main road in Tokyo to elucidate any relations between road traffic noise and the effects of this noise among women living on both sides of the road. Questions concerned annoyance, sleep disturbance, interference with daily activities, health-related symptoms and disease histories. 366 inhabitants were analyzed. Dose-response relationships were found in high reported responses to noisiness, annoyance, dissatisfaction with the nearby environment and interference with listening to TV, conversation and reading. It was also found that the number of high responses to questions increased clearly at noise levels above 70 dB(A), Leq(24h), with regard to interference with thinking and sleep disturbance (waking during the night), fatigue, headache, gastroenteric disorders, loss of appetite, depression and irritation. Furthermore, there was an increase in reports of disease histories with noise above 70 dB(A) for climacteric disturbance, and at noise above 65 dB(A) for deafness, heart disease and hypercholesterolemia. These all suggest that noise may be related to the health status of inhabitants living in areas with heavy road traffic. A noise level of 65 dB(A) or 70 dB(A) in Leq(24h) was the critical point above which respondents indicated increased effects on health and reports of disease increased.