Noise Impacts on Health and Welfare

Although this bibliography includes some general discussions of the effect of noise on health, it is concerned primarily with the literature on the effect of aircraft noise.

• Abbey-Wickrama, L., et al. "Mental Hospital Admissions and Aircraft Noise." Lancet 2:1275-1277 (1969).

• Ando, Y.; and H. Hattori. "Statistical Studies on Effects of Intense Noise During Human Fetal Life." J. Sound Vibration 27:101-110 (1973).

• Beersma, D.G.M.; and K. Altena. Critical evaluation of the 1992 report of a field study of aircraft noise and sleep disturbance. Newsletter of the European Sleep Research Soc. 1:5-7 (1995).

• Berglund, B. Community noise in a public health perspective. In Inter-Noise 98, V.C. Goodwin and D.C. Stevenson, eds., vol. 1, pp. 19-24, New Zealand Acoustical Society, Auckland.

• Berglund, B.; Peter Hassmen; and R.F. Soames Jobs. Sources and effects of low-frequency noise. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 99(5):2985-3002 (1996).

• Berglund, B.; and Thomas Lindvall, eds. Special issue on public health impacts of environmental noise. Environ. Int. 16(4-6) (1990).

• Berglund, Birgitta; and Thomas Lindvall, eds. Community Noise. Archives of the Centre for Sensory Research, Stockholm University and Karolinska Institute, Vol. 2, Issue 1 (1995). (Prepared for World Health Organization.)

• Berglund, B.; Thomas Lindvall; and Steven Nordin. Adverse effects of aircraft noise. Environ. Int. 16:315-338 (1990). (Summary report of symposium "Adverse Effects of Aircraft Noise," University of Stockholm, April 6-8, 1987.)

• Broadbent, D.E. "Effects of Noises of High and Low Frequency on Behavior." Ergonomics, Vol. 9-10, pp. 21-29 (1957).

• Bronzaft, A.L. Noise: Issues for environmental and health policy. In Environmental Issues for the 21st Century, P.J. Thompson, ed. New York: Peter Lang Publishing (1997).

• Bronzaft, A.L.; Ahern, K.; McGinn, R.; O'Connor, J.A.; and Savino, B. Aircraft noise: a potential health hazard. Environ. Behav. 30:117-132 (1998).

• Buggs, D.H.; and J.R. Simon. "Differential Effects of Noise on Tasks of Varying Complexity." J. Applied Psych. 52:148-153 (1968).

• Cantrell, R.W. Prolonged exposure to intermittent noise: audiometric, biochemical, motor, psychological, and sleep effects. Laryngoscope Supplement I, 84(10):2 (October 1974).

• Carter, N.L. Transportation noise, sleep, and possible after-effects. Environ. Int. 22:105-116 (1996).

• Carter, N.L.; and S.N. Hunyor, G. Crawford, D. Keely, and S.J. Smith. Environmental noise and sleep -- a study of arousals, cardiac arrhythmia and urinary catecholamines. Sleep 17:298-307 (1994).

• Carter, N.L.; and R.F.S. Job, eds. Noise as a Public Health Problem, multivolume. Noise Effects '98 Conference, Sydney Australia (1998).

• Carter, N.L.; R. Taylor; R.F.S. Job; P. Peploe; A. Jenkins; and S. Morrell. Proposals for studies of aircraft noise and health. In Noise As a Public Health Problem, M. Vallet, ed., Arcueil Cedes, France: INRETS, vol. 2, pp. 469-472 (1993).

• Cohen, A. "Effects of Noise on Psychological State," Proceedings ASHA, 1969, pp. 74-88.

• Cohen, S.; Krantz, D.S.; Evans, G.W.; and Stokols, D. Cardiovascular and behavior effects of community noise. Amer. Scientist 69:528-535 (1981).

• Dempsey, Thomas K. Effects of A/C Noise on Community Residents. 54th Meeting Virginia Social Science Association, Virginia Beach, VA (March 20-21, 1981).

• Dobbs, M.E. Behavioral responses to auditory stimulation during sleep. J. Sound Vibration, 20:467-476 (1972).

• "Drug survey." Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health 40:197-200 (1977). (Prescriptions for antihypertensive medications gradually doubled in one community after the building of a new jet runway nearby.) (

• Durrant, J. D. "Anatomic and Physiologic Correlates of the Effects of Noise on Hearing." In Noise and Audiology, D.M. Lipscomb, ed. Baltimore: University Park Press, pp. 109-141 (1978).

• Edmonds, L.D.; P.M. Layde; and J.P. Erikson. "Airport Noise and Terataogenisis." Arch. Environ. Health 34:243-247 (1979).

• Evans, Gary W.; S. Hyge; and M. Bullinger. Chronic noise and psychological stress. Psychol. Sci. 6:333-337 (1995).

• Fay, Thomas W., ed. Noise and Health. New York, NY: New York Academy of Medicine (1991).

• Federal Interagency Committee on Aviation Noise. Effects of Aviation Noise on Awakenings from Sleep. (June 1997) (On-line file is in PDF format at FICAN website.)

• Fidell, Sanford; K.S. Pearsons, B.G. Tabachnick, R. Howe, L. Silvati, and D.S. Barber. Field study of noise-induced sleep disturbance. J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 98 (2 Part 1):1025-1033 (1995).

• Fidell, Sanford; Richard H. Howe; Barbara G. Tabachnick; Karl S. Pearsons; and Matthew D. Sneddon. Noise-Induced Sleep Disturbance in Residences Near Two Civil Airports. BBN Systems & Technologies, Acoustic Technologies Division (NASA CR 198252, Contract NAS1-20101) (Dec. 1995).

• Finegold, L.S.; C.S. Harris, and H.E. von Gierke. Community annoyance and sleep disturbance: updated criteria for assessing the impacts of general transportation noise on people. Noise Control Eng. J. 42:25-30 (1994).

• Geber, W. "Cardiovascular and Teratogenic Effects of Chronic Intermittent Noise Stress." In Physiological Effects of Noise, B.L. Welch and A.S. Welch (eds.), pp. 85-90 (1970).

• Glass, D.C.; and J.E. Singer. Urban Stress Experiments on Noise and Social Stressors. New York: Academic Press (1972).

• Globus, G.; J. Friedmann, H. Cohen, S.K. Pearsons, and S. Fidell. The effects of aircraft noise on sleep electrophysiology as recorded in the home. In Noise as a Public Health Problem, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 550/9-73.008 (1974).

• Goines, Lisa; and Louis Hagler. Noise pollution: A modern plague. Southern Medical Journal, 100:287-294 (March 2007).

• Griefahn, B. Long-term exposure to noise. Aspects of adaptation, habituation, and compensation. Waking and Sleeping 1:383-386 (1977).

• Griefahn, B. Sleeping in noisy environments: effects, limits, and preventative measures. In Sleep 1990, J.A. Horne, ed. Bochum, Ger.: Pontenagel Press (1990).

• Haralabidis, A.S., et al. Acute effects of night-time noise exposure on blood pressure in populations living near airports. European Heart Journal, 29:658-664 (March 2008).

• Health Council of the Netherlands. Noise and Health, Publication 1994/15E, The Hague (1994).

• Health Council of the Netherlands. Assessing Noise Exposure for Public Health Purposes, Publication 1997/23E, Rijswijk (1997).

• Henderson et al. Effects of Noise on Hearing. Raven Press (1976).

• Herridge, C.F.; and B. Chir. Aircraft noise and mental health admission. Sound 6:32-36 (1972).

• Horne, J.A.; F.L. Pankhurst, L.A. Reyner, K. Hume, and I.D. Diamond. A field study of sleep disturbance: Effects of aircraft noise and other factors on 5,742 nights of actimetrically monitored sleep in a large subject sample. Sleep 17:146-159 (1994).

• Horonjeff, R.D.; and S.R. Teffeteller. "Sleep Interference from Intermittent and Continuous Noise Exposure." Annual Meeting Acoustical Society of America, Salt Lake City, Utah (November 27, 1969).

• Horonjeff, R.D., et al. "Sleep Interference from Low Level Sounds." Annual Meeting Acoustical Society of America, Honolulu, Hawaii (November 30, 1978).

• Hygge, Staffan. Noise effects on health. In Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health, and Medicine, S. Newman, J. Weinman, R. West, and C. McManus, eds., London: Cambridge Univ. Press (1997).

• "Impact of the Amsterdam Aircraft Disaster on Reported Annoyance by Aircraft Noise and on Psychiatric Disorders." 23 Int. J. Epidemiol. 333 (1994).

• Irle, M. Is aircraft noise harming people? In Applying Social Psychology, M. Deutsch and H.A. Hornstein, eds. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum (1975).

• Ising, H.; et al. Effects of noise from military low-level flights in humans, part 2." In Noise as a Public Health Problem, Vol. 4, B. Berglund and T. Lindvall, eds. Swedish Council for Building Research, Stockholm.

• Ising, H.; W. Babisch, and B. Kruppa. Acute and Chronic Noise Stress as Cardiovascular Risk Factors. Berlin, Ger.: Federal Environmental Agency.

• Ising, H.; and B. Kruppa. Health effects caused by noise: Evidence from the literature from the past 25 years. Noise and Health 6:5-13 (2004).

• Jacobson, Ira D. Environmental Criteria for Human Comfort -- A Study of the Related Literature. (NASA CR-132424, NGL 47-005-151) (Feb. 1974).

• Jansen, G. Health concepts and noise effects. In Noise as a Public Health Problem, vol. 2, pp. 697-702, Noise Effects '98 Conference, Sydney, Australia (1998).

• Jenkins, L. Psychiatric admissions and aircraft noise from London Airport: Four-year, three hospitals study. Psychol. Med. 11:765-82 (1981).

• Job, R.F.S. The influence of subjective reactions to noise on health effects of the noise. Environ. Int. 22:93-104 (1996).

• Jones, Nowell; and J. Tauscher. Residence under an airport landing pattern as a factor in teratism. Arch. Environ. Health 33:10-12 (1978).

• Jonsson, A.; and L. Hansson. Prolonged exposure to a stressful stimulus as a cause of raised blood pressure in man." The Lancet, pp. 86-87 (January 1977)

• King, Richard L. Airport Noise Pollution: A Bibliography of Its Effects on People and Property. Scarecrow Press, 1973.

• Knipschild, P. Medical effects of aircraft noise: community cardiovascular survey. Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health 40:185-190 (1977).

• Knipschild, P. Medical effects of aircraft noise: general practice survey. Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health 40:197-200 (1977).

• Knipschild, P.; and N. Oudshoorn. Medical effects of aircraft noise: drug survey. Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health 40:191-196 (1977).

• Knipschild, P. Aircraft noise and hypertension. In Noise As a Public Health Problem, J.V. Tobias, G. Jansen, and W.D. Ward, eds., ASHA Reports No. 10, Rockville, MD (1980).

• Kryter, K.D. "Aircraft Noise and Social Factors in Psychiatric Hospital Admission Rates: A Reexamination of Some Data Psychol." Med. 20(2):395-411 (1990).

• Kryter, K.D. Association of Heathrow Airport Noise with psychiatric admissions. Psychol. Med. 20:1022 (1990).

• Kryter, K.D. Effects of Noise on Man, 2nd edition. (1985).

• Kryter, K.D. Handbook of Hearing and the Effects of Noise. San Diego, CA: Academic Press (1994).

• Kryter, K.D. Physiological, Psychological and Social Effects of Noise. NASA Reference Publication 1115 (1984).

• Kryter, K.D.; and Pazo, F. Effects of noise on some autonomic system activities. J. Acoustical Soc. Amer. 67:2036-2044 (1980).

• Kuwano, S.; S. Namba, and T. Mizunami. The effect of noise on the effort to sleep. In Sound and Silence: Setting the Balance [Inter-Noise 98 Conference], V.C. Goodwin and D.C. Stevenson, eds., vol. 2, pp. 1083-1086, Aukland: New Zealand Acoustical Society (1998).

• Lane, S.R. Measured jet noise compared to California noise codes and health limits." J.A.S.A. 56(6):1805-1810 (1974).

• Lee, C.S.Y.; and G.G. Fleming. General Health Effects of Transportation Noise. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. Transportation (2002).

• Lercher, P. Environmental noise and health: An integrated research perspective. Environ. Int. 22:117-129 (1996).

• Lipscomb, D.M., ed. Noise and Audiology. Baltimore: University Park Press (1978).

• Lukas, J. S.; and M. E. Dobbs. Effects of Aircraft Noises on the Sleep of Women. Menlo Park, CA: Stanford Research Institute (June 1972). (Prepared for U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Langley Research Center.)

• Lukas, J. S.; D. J. Peeler; and M. E. Dobbs. Arousal from Sleep by Noises from Aircraft With and Without Acoustically Treated Nacelles. (NASA CR-2279, NAS1-11243) (July 1973).

• Lukas et al. Disturbance of Human Sleep by Subsonic Jet Noise and Simulated Sonic Booms. Menlo Park, CA: Stanford Research Institute (1971). (Prepared for U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Langley Research Center.)

• May, Darly N., ed. Handbook of Noise Assessment. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold (1978).

• McLean, E.K.; and A. Tarnopolsky. Noise, discomfort, and mental health. Psychol. Med., pp. 19-61 (August 1977)

• Meecham, W.; and N. Shaw. Effects of jet noise on mortality rates. Brit. J. Audiol. 13:77-80 (1979).

• Meecham, W. C.; and N. A. Shaw. Increase in mortality rates due to aircraft noise. Schriftenreihe Vereins Wasser-, Boden-, und Lufthygiene 88:428-441 (1993). [In English.]

• Mestre, Vincent. Effects of Aircraft Noise: Research Update on Selected Topics. Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Board (Airport Cooperative Research Program Synthesis #9) (2008). [Review of literature since 1985 FAA report -- see Newman and Beattie, below.]

• Miller, J.P. Effect of noise on people. J. Acoust. Soc. America, 56(3):729-764 (September 1, 1974).

• Newman, J. S., and K. R. Beattie. Aviation Noise Effects. Federal Aviation Administration (Report No. EE-85-2; NTIS Doc. ADA-154319). (1985). [Review of literature.]

• "Noise as a Public Health Problem," five-yearly international congresses sponsored by the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise. The first congress was held in 1968. Conference proceedings or program information:

  1973 -- Proceedings of the International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem (Dubrovnik), W.D. Ward, ed., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report 550/9-73-008.

  1978 -- III. International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem (Freiburg), J.V. Tobias, G. Jansen, and W.D. Ward, eds., American Speech Language Hearing Assn., Report 10, Rockville, Maryland.

  1983 -- Noise as a Public Health Problem (Milan), G. Rossi, ed., Edizioni Tecniche a cura del Centro Ricerche e Studi Amplifon, Milan.

  1988 -- Noise as a Public Health Problem: New Advances in Noise Research (Stockholm), B. Berglund, U. Berglund, J. Karlsson, and T. Lindvall, eds., Swedish Council for Building Research, Stockholm.

  1993 -- Noise as a Public Health Problem: Proceedings of the 6th International Congress (Nice), M. Vallet, ed., Institut National de Recherche sur les Transport et leur Securite, Bron, France.

  1998 -- Noise Effects '98: 7th International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem (Sydney, Aus.), N. Carter and R.F.S. Job, eds., Noise Effects '98 Pty., Sydney.

  2003 -- 8th International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem, Rotterdam.

  2008 -- 9th International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem, July 21-25, 2008, Mashantucket, Connecticut.

• Noise and Health, quarterly journal since 1998. Available on the web at www.noiseandhealth.org.

• Ohrstrom, E. Research on noise and sleep since 1988: Present state. In Noise as a Public Health Problem, vol. 3, pp. 331-338. Arcueil, Fr.: Institut National de Recherche sur les Transports et leur Securite (INRETS) (1993).

• Ohrstrom, E.; and M. Bjorkman. Effects of noise-disturbed sleep -- A laboratory study on habituation and subjective noise sensitivity. J. Sound Vibration 122:277-290 (1988).

• Ollerhead, J.B.; et al. Report of a Field Study of Aircraft Noise and Sleep Disturbance. London: Department of Transport (1992).

• Passchier-Vermeer, W. Noise and Health. The Hague: Health Council of the Netherlands, Publication No. A93/02E (1993).

• Passchier-Vermeer, W. Sleep Disturbance Due to Night-time Aircraft Noise. Leiden: TNO Institute of Preventive Health Care, Report 94.077 (1994).

• Passchier-Vermeer, W. Effects of noise and health. Noise News Int. pp. 137-150 (1996). [Chapter 3 of a 1993 report "Noise and Health" prepared by the Health Council of the Netherlands.]

• Pearsons, Karl S. Recent field studies in the U.S. involving the disturbance of sleep from aircraft noise. In Noise Control -- The Next 25 Years (Inter Noise 96), F.A. Hill and R. Lawrence, eds., Book 5, pp. 2271-2276, St. Albans, UK: Institute of Acoustics (1996).

• Pearsons, Karl S. Awakening and motility effects of aircraft noise. In Noise as a Public Health Problem, N.L. Carter and R.F.S. Job, eds., vol. 2 pp. 427-432, Noise Effects '98 Conference, Sydney, Aus. (1998).

• Pearsons, Karl S.; et al. Effects of Aircraft Noise on Sleep Electrophysiology as Recorded in the Home. BBN (Report 2422, NASA Contract NAS1-9559-21) (Aug. 1973).

• Pearsons, Karl S.; et al. Predicting noise-induced sleep disturbance. J. Acoustic Soc. Amer. 97:331-338 (1995).

• Pearsons, Karl S.; and R.D. Horonjeff. Measurement of Speech Levels in the Presence of Time-Varying Background Noise. BBN (NASA CR 3547, Contract NAS1-16521) (April 1982).

• Peterson, E. A.; et al. Noise and cardiovascular function in rhesus monkeys. J. Auditory Res., no. 15, pp. 234-251 (1975).

• Peterson, E.A.; et al. Noise raises blood pressure without impairing auditory sensitivity. Science 211:1450-1452 (1981).

• Pollak, C.P. The effects of noise on sleep. In Noise and Health, T.H. Fay, ed., New York Academy of Medicine (1991).

• Prasher, D.; and L. Luxon, eds. Advances in Noise Series, vol. 1 "Biological Effects". London: Whurr (1998).

• Report on the Aircraft Noise as a Public Health Problem in Okinawa (Rev. July 12, 2000).

• Schell, Lawrence M. "Environmental Noise and Human Prenatal Growth." Amer. J. Phys. Anthropol. 56:63-70 (1981).

• Schneider, M. "A Critical Look at an Airport Noise Control Ordinance." Amer. Indus. Hygiene Assoc. J. 32:480 (July 1971).

• Smoorenburg, G.F. Effects of impulse noise on man. In Noise as a Public Health Problem, N.L. Carter and R.F.S. Job, eds., vol. 1, pp. 1-10, Noise Effects '98 Conference, Sydney, Aus. (1998).

• Stansfeld, S. A. Noise, noise sensitivity, and pyschological disorder: epidemiological and psychophysiological studies. Pyschol. Med. Monograph Suppl. 22 (1992).

• Staples, S.L. Human response to environmental noise. Amer. Pyscholgist 51:143-150 (1996).

• Stephens, David G.; and Powell, Clemans A. Laboratory and community studies of aircraft noise effects. Proceedings International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem (Freiburg, Germany, Sept. 25-29, 1978), American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Report 10,, Rockville, MD (1980).

• Suter, Alice H. Noise and Its Effects 3. Report prepared for the Administrative Conference of the United States (Nov. 1991).

• Taylor, S. M. Noise as a population health problem. 1998 Int. Congress on Noise Control Engineering (Inter-noise 98), Christchurch, New Zealand.

• Thiessen, G.J. Disturbance of sleep by noise. J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 64:216-222 (1978).

• Thompson, S.J. Non-auditory health effects of noise: An updated review. In Noise Control -- The Next 25 Years (Inter Noise 96), F.A. Hill and R. Lawrence, eds., vol. 4, pp. 2177-2182, St. Albans, UK: Institute of Acoustics (1996).

• Tobias, J.V.; G. Jansen; and W.D. Ward, eds. Noise As a Public Health Problem, ASHA Reports No. 10, Rockville, MD (1980).

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Effects of Noise on People. (NTID 300.7, NTIS Document No. PB-206723) (December 1971).

• _____. Information on Levels of Environmental Noise Requisite to Protect Public Health and Welfare with an Adequate Margin of Safety. (EPA 550/9-74-004) Washington, D.C. (March 1974). [The full report at the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse website is a very large file (495 kB). A version without appendixes is available at this website.] See also Protective Noise Levels (EPA 550/9-79-100) Nov. 1978, a condensed version of the 1974 report in less technical terms.

• _____. Noise as a Public Health Problem, 550/9-73.008 (1974).

• _____. Noise Effects Handbook: A Desk Reference to Health and Welfare Effects of Noise. (EPA 500-9-82-106) Fort Walton Beach, Florida: National Association of Noise Control Officials (Rev. July 1981)

• _____. Public Health and Welfare Criteria for Noise. (EPA 550/4-73-002) (July 1973).

• U.S. National Research Council Report of Working Group 85, Prenatal Effects of Exposure to High Level Noise. Washington, DC: National Academy Press (1982).

• Vallet, M. Night aircraft noise index and sleep research results. In The Cost of Noise (Inter-Noise 91 Conference), A. Lawrence, ed., vol. 1, pp. 207-210, Poughkeepsie, NY: Noise Control Foundation (1991).

• Vallet, M., ed. Noise As a Public Health Problem, multi-volume. Arcueil Cedex, France: INRETS (1993).

• Vallet, M.; et al. Heart rate reactivity to aircraft noise after a long-term exposure. In Noise As a Public Health Problem, G. Rossi, ed., vol. 2, pp. 965-971, Milan: Centro Richerche e Studio Amplifon (1983).

• Webster, J.C. Effects of noise on speech intelligibility. Proceedings Conference on Noise As a Public Health Hazard, pp. 49-73 (1969).

• Webster, J.C. Effects of noise on the hearing of speech. Proceedings of the International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem (Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, May 13-18, 1973). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 550/9-73-008) (1973).

• Welch, B.L.; and A.S. Welch (eds.). Physiological Effects of Noise. New York: Plenum (1970).

• Wilkinson, R.T. Some factors influencing the effects of environmental stressors upon performance. Psychol. Bull., 72:260-272 (1969).

• William, W.C.; and H.G. Smith. Effects of jet aircraft noise on mental hospital admissions. Brit. J. Audiol. 11:81-85 (1977).

• World Health Organization. Environmental Health Criteria Document on Community Noise, Report EUR/HFA Target 24, Copenhagen (1992). [Report on the Task Force Meeting, Duesseldorf, Ger., Nov. 24-28, 1992.]

• World Health Organization. Environmental Health Criteria Document on Community Noise (external review draft, June 28, 1993, B. Berglund and T. Lindvall, eds.).

• Zhao, Y.; S. Zhang; S. Selin; and R.C.A. Spear. A dose-response relationship for noise-induced hypertension. Br. J. Ind. Med. 48:179-184 (1991).