Annoyance, Sleep and Concentration Problems due to Combined Traffic Noise and the Benefit of Quiet Side

Theo Bodin, Jonas Björk, Jonas Ardö and Maria Albin
Additional contact information
Theo Bodin: Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden
Jonas Björk: Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden
Jonas Ardö: Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden
Maria Albin: Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: Background : Access to a quiet side in one’s dwelling is thought to compensate for higher noise levels at the most exposed façade. It has also been indicated that noise from combined traffic sources causes more noise annoyance than equal average levels from either road traffic or railway noise separately. Methods : 2612 persons in Malmö, Sweden, answered to a residential environment survey including questions on outdoor environment, noise sensitivity, noise annoyance, sleep quality and concentration problems. Road traffic and railway noise was modeled using Geographic Information System. Results : Access to a quiet side, i.e. , at least one window facing yard, water or green space, was associated with reduced risk of annoyance OR (95%CI) 0.47 (0.38–0.59), and concentration problems 0.76 (0.61–0.95). Bedroom window facing the same environment was associated to reduced risk of reporting of poor sleep quality 0.78 (0.64–1.00). Railway noise was associated with reduced risk of annoyance below 55 dB(A) but not at higher levels of exposure. Conclusions : Having a window facing a yard, water or green space was associated to a substantially reduced risk of noise annoyance and concentration problems. If this window was the bedroom window, sleeping problems were less likely.

Keywords: noise; road traffic; railway; annoyance; sleep; cognition; quiet side (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/2/1612/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/2/1612/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:2:p:1612-1628:d:45269

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().