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
    Viewed11397    
    Printed466    
    Emailed3    
    PDF Downloaded217    
    Comments [Add]    
    Cited by others 15    

Recommend this journal

 

 ARTICLES
Year : 2004  |  Volume : 6  |  Issue : 22  |  Page : 35--47

Noise induced nocturnal cortisol secretion and tolerable overhead flights


Dept. Physiology and Experimental Pathophysiology, University of Erlangen, Germany

Correspondence Address:
M Spreng
Dept. Physiology/Biocybernetics, University of Erlangen, Universitaetsstrasse 17,D-91054 Erlangen
Germany
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


PMID: 15070527

Rights and PermissionsRights and Permissions

Mainly dependent on level and dynamic increase sound produces over-shooting excitations which activate subcortical processing centers (e.g. the amygdala, functioning as fear conditioning center) besides cortical areas (e. g. arousing annoyance, awakenings) as well. In addition there exist very close central nervous connections between subcortical parts of the auditory system (e.g. amygdala) showing typical plasticity effects (sensitization) and the hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis. Using that causal chain noise induce cortisol excretion even below the awakening threshold. Thus repeated noise events (e.g. overflights during night time) may lead to accumulation of the cortisol level in blood. This can happen because its time-constant of exponential decrease is about 50 to 10 times larger than that one for adrenaline and noradrenaline. This fact and the unusual large permeability of cortisol through the cell membranes opens a wide field of connections between stress-dependent cortisol production and the disturbance of a large number of other endocrine processes, especially as a result of long-term stress activation by environmental influences such as environmental noise. Based upon a physiological model calculating the cortisol accumulation starting at a nightly threshold of physiological over-proportional reactions around L max =53 dB(A) the number of tolerable noise events (over-flights in a nightly time range) can be estimated for given indoor peak sound pressure levels, keeping the cortisol increase within the normal range. Examples of results for 8 hours in the night are for instance number and level combinations (NAL-values) of 13 events with 53 dB(A) indoor peak level or 6 events with 70 dB(A) indoor peak level repectively.






[FULL TEXT] [PDF]*


        
Print this article     Email this article