Non-Auditory Health Effects of Noise: Updated Review

Interest in nonauditory physiological effects of noise on man continues to be high as noise exposures in the living and work environments of most populations worsen.Research on long-term nonauditory noise effects has been motivated primarily by ndings from laboratory studies showing that noise activates endocrine and sympathetic systems triggering acute physiologic changes identical to a general stress response The major health effects studied are cardiovascular, in particular elevated blood pressure (BP) and ischemic heart disease (II-ID); mental health problems; adverse reproductive outcomes; and immune responses.In early research, investigators tended to assume that noise produced direct effects and gave little attention to the individual differences in response to noise as a stressor or to the role of other stress producing factors .Most of these studies were cross-sectional in design, lacked from suf cient control of confounding, had Prooeedlngs oi Intermiee 96