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Abstract Introduction Sound is among the plethora of external stimuli impacting sleep. Previous research shows that noises above 45 dB disrupts normal human sleep architecture. High noise results in an increased duration of light sleep stages (NREM 1 and NREM 2) and a decrease in deeper stages (NREM 3 and REM). However, these findings are from studies that assessed the acute impact of noise on sleep. Additionally, the populations used in these studies were not racially diverse. Researching sleep in these populations is vital as sleep health disparities are prevalent in minoritized racial/ethnic groups in the United States. The objective of this study is to identify how long-term exposure to environmental noise at the neighborhood level alters sleep structure in Black adults. Methods Black adults (N = 101, 71.3% female, aged 37.9±13.2 years) were observed for a total of 573 night's sleep. Sleep parameters were gathered using the SleepImage® ring. This device divides sleep into three categories based on cardiopulmonary coupling: unstable sleep, stable sleep, and REM sleep. Unstable sleep is defined as including all of NREM 1 and parts of NREM 2, while stable sleep encompasses the rest of NREM 2 and all of NREM 3. Environmental noise was determined via HowLoud, a website which assigns a sound score to an address based on a combination of vehicle traffic, air transport, and other local factors. A linear regression was performed to examine how sound score impacts on sleep structure. Results Results of the regression analysis showed that sound score was significantly associated with percent unstable sleep in Black adults (F(1,99) = 4.67, p = 0.0332). This indicates that sound score is associated with a decreased percent unstable sleep (β1 = -0.463). Conclusion Greater levels of environmental noise are associated with an increased amount of unstable sleep among Blacks. These results suggest that quieter nights may lead to deeper and more restorative sleep. This is consistent with previous studies, supporting the notion that this biological mechanism is universally relevant. Finally, this study elucidates the detrimental effects of chronic noise pollution and highlights the importance of one's neighborhood on sleep health. Support (if any) NIH R01HL142066
Coppello et al. (Sat,) studied this question.