A phantom road experiment reveals traffic noise is an invisible source of habitat degradation.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Ware HE
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4593122 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
A phantom road experiment reveals traffic noise is an invisible source of habitat degradation.
Ware Heidi E HE McClure Christopher J W CJ Carlisle Jay D JD Barber Jesse R JR
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20150831 39
Decades of research demonstrate that roads impact wildlife and suggest traffic noise as a primary cause of population declines near roads. We created a "phantom road" using an array of speakers to apply traffic noise to a roadless landscape, directly testing the effect of noise alone on an entire songbird community during autumn migration. Thirty-one percent of the bird community avoided the phantom road. For individuals that stayed despite the noise, overall body condition decreased by a full S ...[more]
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Project description:An increasing number of children are exposed to road traffic noise levels that may lead to adverse effects on health and daily functioning. Childhood is a period of intense growth and brain maturation, and children may therefore be especially vulnerable to road traffic noise. The objective of the present study was to examine whether road traffic noise was associated with reported inattention symptoms in children, and whether this association was mediated by sleep duration.This study was based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Parental reports of children's inattention at age 8 were linked to modelled levels of residential road traffic noise. We investigated the association between inattention and noise exposure during pregnancy (n = 1934), noise exposure averaged over 5 years (age 3 to 8 years; n = 1384) and noise exposure at age 8 years (n = 1384), using fractional logit response models. The participants were children from Oslo, Norway.An association with inattention at age 8 years was found for road traffic noise exposure at age 8 years (coef = .0083, CI = [.0012, .0154]; 1.2% point increase in inattention score per 10 dB increase in noise level), road traffic noise exposure average for the last 5 years (coef = .0090, CI = [.0016, .0164]; 1.3% point increase/10 dB), and for pregnancy road traffic noise exposure for boys (coef = .0091, CI = [.0010, .0171]), but not girls (coef = -.0021, CI = [-.0094, .0053]). Criteria for doing mediation analyses were not fulfilled.Results indicate that road traffic noise has a negative impact on children's inattention. We found no mediation by sleep duration.
| S-EPMC5698983 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Traffic noise exposure within a city varies over time and space. In this study, we developed a modified noise calculation method and used this method together with population and traffic data to estimate the time trend of noise exposure for the population in Gothenburg, Sweden, from 1975 to 2010. The noise calculation method was based on the standard Nordic method for road traffic noise with modifications using area-level statistics for population and building structures instead of precise geocoding of each inhabitant. Noise emission per vehicle was assumed to be constant over the period. The results show an increase in noise exposure over time. The number of inhabitants exposed at an equivalent level above 55 dB increased from 93000 to 146000 inhabitants between 1975 and 2010, and the percentage of the population exposed at this level increased from 22% to 29% over the same period. Traffic increase (1.4% per year) and population increase/concentration (0.50% per year) were approximately equally important factors behind this increase in exposure.
| S-EPMC4865157 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundBoth physical and psychological health outcomes have been associated with exposure to environmental noise. Noise sensitivity could have the same moderating effect on physical and psychological health outcomes related to environmental noise exposure as on annoyance but this has been little tested.MethodsA cohort of 2398 men between 45 and 59 years, the longitudinal Caerphilly Collaborative Heart Disease study, was established in 1984/88 and followed into the mid-1990s. Road traffic noise maps were assessed at baseline. Psychological ill-health was measured in phase 2 in 1984/88, phase 3 (1989/93) and phase 4 (1993/7). Ischaemic heart disease was measured in clinic at baseline and through hospital records and records of deaths during follow up. We examined the longitudinal associations between road traffic noise and ischaemic heart disease morbidity and mortality using Cox Proportional Hazard Models and psychological ill-health using Logistic Regression; we also examined whether noise sensitivity and noise annoyance might moderate these associations. We also tested if noise sensitivity and noise annoyance were longitudinal predictors of ischaemic heart disease morbidity and mortality and psychological ill-health.ResultsRoad traffic noise was not associated with ischaemic heart disease morbidity or mortality. Neither noise sensitivity nor noise annoyance moderated the effects of road traffic noise on ischaemic heart disease morbidity or mortality. High noise sensitivity was associated with lower ischaemic heart disease mortality risk (HR = 0.74, 95%CI 0.57, 0.97). Road traffic noise was associated with Phase 4 psychological ill-health but only among those exposed to 56-60dBA (fully adjusted OR = 1.82 95%CI 1.07, 3.07). Noise sensitivity moderated the association of road traffic noise exposure with psychological ill-health. High noise sensitivity was associated longitudinally with psychological ill-health at phase 3 (OR = 1.85 95%CI 1.23, 2.78) and phase 4 (OR = 1.65 95%CI 1.09, 2.50). Noise annoyance predicted psychological ill-health at phase 4 (OR = 2.47 95%CI 1.00, 6.13).ConclusionsNoise sensitivity is a specific predictor of psychological ill-health and may be part of a wider construct of environmental susceptibility. Noise sensitivity may increase the risk of psychological ill-health when exposed to road traffic noise. Noise annoyance may be a mediator of the effects of road traffic noise on psychological ill-health.
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Project description:AimsThe aim of this study was to investigate the cross-sectional associations of modelled residential road traffic noise with cardiovascular disease risk factors [systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), C-reactive protein, triglycerides, glycated haemoglobin, and self-reported hypertension] in UK Biobank.Methods and resultsThe UK Biobank recruited 502 651 individuals aged 40-69 years across the UK during 2006-10. Road traffic noise (Lden and Lnight) exposure for 2009 was estimated at baseline address using a simplified version of the Common Noise Assessment Methods model. We used multivariable linear and logistic regression models, adjusting for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), smoking, alcohol intake, area- and individual-level deprivation, season of blood draw, length of time at residence, and nitrogen dioxide (main model), in an analytical sample size of over 370 000 participants. Exposure to road-traffic Lden >65 dB[A], as compared to ≤55 dB[A], was associated with 0.77% [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.60%, 0.95%], 0.49% (95% CI 0.32%, 0.65%), 0.79% (95% CI 0.11%, 1.47%), and 0.12% (95% CI -0.04%, 0.28%) higher SBP, DBP, triglycerides, and glycated haemoglobin, respectively. Removing BMI from the main model yielded significant positive associations with all five markers with elevated percent changes. The associations with SBP or DBP did not appear to be impacted by hypertension medication while a positive association with prevalent self-reported hypertension was seen in the non-medicated group who exposed to a Lden level of 60-65 dB[A] (odds ratio 1.07, 95% CI 1.00, 1.15).ConclusionExposure to road traffic noise >65 dB[A], independent of nitrogen dioxide, was associated with small but adverse changes in blood pressure and cardiovascular biochemistry.
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Project description:Road traffic and related noise is a major source of annoyance and impairment to health in urban areas. Many areas exposed to road traffic noise are also exposed to rail and air traffic noise. The resulting annoyance may depend on individual/neighborhood socio-demographic factors. Nevertheless, few studies have taken into account the confounding or modifying factors in the relationship between transportation noise and annoyance due to road traffic. In this study, we address these issues by combining Geographic Information Systems and epidemiologic methods. Street network buffers with a radius of 500 m were defined around the place of residence of the 7290 participants of the RECORD Cohort in Ile-de-France. Estimated outdoor traffic noise levels (road, rail, and air separately) were assessed at each place of residence and in each of these buffers. Higher levels of exposure to noise were documented in low educated neighborhoods. Multilevel logistic regression models documented positive associations between road traffic noise and annoyance due to road traffic, after adjusting for individual/neighborhood socioeconomic conditions. There was no evidence that the association was of different magnitude when noise was measured at the place of residence or in the residential neighborhood. However, the strength of the association between neighborhood noise exposure and annoyance increased when considering a higher percentile in the distribution of noise in each neighborhood. Road traffic noise estimated at the place of residence and road traffic noise in the residential neighborhood (75th percentile) were independently associated with annoyance, when adjusted for each other. Interactions of effects indicated that the relationship between road traffic noise exposure in the residential neighborhood and annoyance was stronger in affluent and high educated neighborhoods. Overall, our findings suggest that it is useful to take into account (i) the exposure to transportation noise in the residential neighborhood rather than only at the residence, (ii) different percentiles of noise exposure in the residential neighborhood, and (iii) the socioeconomic characteristics of the residential neighborhood to explain variations in annoyance due to road traffic in the neighborhood.
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