Sleep disturbance effects of traffic noise- a laboratory study on
after effects
Journal of Sound and Vibration, (1982)Abstract
Body movements during sleep and subjective sleep quality, as well
as mood and performance were investigated after exposure to intermittent
and continuous traffic noise during the night. In a first experiment,
six young subjects slept in the laboratory for five nights; in a
second experiment 12 subjects slept six consecutive nights in the
laboratory. A good dose-response relationship was obtained between
intermittent noise and subjective sleep quality: i.e., the higher
the noise level, the poorer the sleep quality. A similar dose-response
relationship was found for body movements immediately following noise
peaks during nights with intermittent noise. Performance and mood
tended to be worse after intermittent noise. However, these effects
did not increase with an increase in noise levels. Compared with
intermittent noise, continuous noise had a significantly smaller
effect on sleep quality. Mood and performance were not worse after
continuous noise. The results suggest that increased attention should
be paid to peak noise levels when standards for nocturnal noise are
set.