Key result
Active noise control significantly reduced systolic blood pressure (p<0.01) and diastolic blood pressure (p<0.05) during mental tasks compared to unmodulated noise exposure.
Why the study?
Does active noise control reduce physiological stress responses in healthy males exposed to driving noise?
RCT (n=10)
Counterbalanced
No
Does active noise control reduce physiological stress responses in healthy males exposed to driving noise?
Active noise control technology in vehicles may effectively reduce physiological stress, specifically lowering blood pressure and sympathetic nerve activity.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May blunt BP rises from driving noise in healthy males; leaves open clinical utility in patients with CVD.
The noise inside an automobile exerts various influences on the driver. In this context, the concept of active noise control (ANC), which reduces the noise in the automobile, has been reported. Subjective evaluation has furnished empirical evidence regarding the effects of ANC. However, few studies have investigated the effects of ANC using a physiological evaluation. Therefore, we studied the effects of ANC on the physiological functions using recorded driving noise with ANC ON and OFF conditions. Ten male subjects participated in this study. They completed four consecutive sessions: a 20 min quiet period as baseline, a 10 min noise exposure with ANC ON or OFF, a 60 min mental task period during noise exposure with ANC ON or OFF, and a 20 min recovery period. We measured electrocardiogram, photoplethysmogram, electroencephalogram, blood pressure (BP), baroreflex sensitivity and internal secretion indexes such as cortisol. Before and after the task, the subjects were evaluated on the Kansei-gakuin Sleepiness Scale, and after the task, they answered the NASA-TLX. Two experiments with ANC ON and OFF conditions were conducted at the same time of day on separate days. Data of the ANC ON condition and ANC OFF condition were compared by the paired t-test. We found that systolic BP, diastolic BP and sympathetic nerve activity during the ANC ON condition were significantly lower than those during the ANC OFF condition. Furthermore, parasympathetic nerve activity during the ANC ON condition was significantly higher than that during the ANC OFF condition. The results suggested that ANC effectively reduces the stress level in physiological functions, especially the cardiovascular system.
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Lee et al. (2009) conducted an RCT in Healthy subjects (n=10). Active Noise Control (ANC) vs. ANC OFF (unmodulated driving noise) was evaluated on Systolic blood pressure during noise and task period (p=<0.01). Active noise control significantly reduced systolic blood pressure (p<0.01) and diastolic blood pressure (p<0.05) during mental tasks compared to unmodulated noise exposure.
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