Home Email this page Print this page Bookmark this page Decrease font size Default font size Increase font size
Noise & Health  
 CURRENT ISSUE    PAST ISSUES    AHEAD OF PRINT    SEARCH   GET E-ALERTS    
 
 Next article
 Previous article
Table of Contents

Similar in PUBMED
   Search Pubmed for
   Search in Google Scholar for
 Related articles
Citation Manager
Access Statistics
Reader Comments
Email Alert *
Add to My List *
 * Requires registration (Free)
 

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed9543    
    Printed418    
    Emailed2    
    PDF Downloaded243    
    Comments [Add]    

Recommend this journal

 

 ARTICLES
Year : 2001  |  Volume : 3  |  Issue : 10  |  Page : 1--13

The influence of psychological factors on self-reported physiological effects of noise


1 Department of Psychology, University of Sydney, Australia
2 Department of Architecture, University of Sydney, Australia
3 National Acoustic Laboratories, Chatswood, Australia
4 Department of Public Health, University of Sydney, Australia

Correspondence Address:
J Hatfield
Department of Psychology, University of Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


PMID: 12689451

Rights and PermissionsRights and Permissions

We examine the possibility that physiological effects of noise may result not only from noise exposure per se, but also from people's beliefs about the noise. Due to widely publicised changes to the runway configuration at Sydney Airport, aircraft noise levels in nearby areas were expected to either increase, decrease or remain the same. As part of the Sydney Airport Health Study, residents in each of these 3 expected-change areas (N=1015) completed a structured interview which included indices of noise reaction (including annoyance) and physical and mental health, prior to the anticipated changes. Concurrent (pre-change) measures of aircraft noise levels were taken. Self-reported physiological/health effects differed across areas with the same aircraft noise level consistently with differences in psychological reaction across these areas. Expected change in noise level added to the level of self-reported physiological symptoms predicted by noise level in regression analyses. Dose-response functions differed across the expected-change areas. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that noise exposure produces physiological symptoms, but that expectations regarding future noise levels also contribute to the physiological impact of noise, which may be reduced by addressing psychosocial factors related to noise reaction.






[FULL TEXT] [PDF]*


        
Print this article     Email this article