Annoyance from environmental noise across the lifespan

P.W.M. van Gerven; H de Vos; M.P.J. van Boxtel; S. A. Janssen; H.M. Miedema

doi:10.1121/1.3147510

Annoyance from environmental noise across the lifespan

P.W.M. van Gerven^*, H de Vos, M.P.J. van Boxtel, S. A. Janssen, H.M. Miedema

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Curvilinear effects of age on self-reported annoyance from environmental noise were investigated in a pooled international and a Dutch sample of in total 62,983 individuals aged between 15 and 102 years. All respondents were frequently exposed to varying levels of transportation noise (i.e., aircraft, road traffic, and railway noise). Results reveal an inverted U-shaped pattern, where the largest number of highly annoyed individuals was found in the middle-aged segment of the sample (peaking around 45 years) while the lowest number was found in the youngest and oldest age segments. This pattern was independent of noise exposure level and self-reported noise sensitivity. The inverted U-shape explains the absence of linear age effects in previous studies. The results are discussed in light of theories predicting an age-related vulnerability to noise.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	187-194
Journal	Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Volume	126
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3147510
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2009

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10.1121/1.3147510

Cite this

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title = "Annoyance from environmental noise across the lifespan",

abstract = "Curvilinear effects of age on self-reported annoyance from environmental noise were investigated in a pooled international and a Dutch sample of in total 62,983 individuals aged between 15 and 102 years. All respondents were frequently exposed to varying levels of transportation noise (i.e., aircraft, road traffic, and railway noise). Results reveal an inverted U-shaped pattern, where the largest number of highly annoyed individuals was found in the middle-aged segment of the sample (peaking around 45 years) while the lowest number was found in the youngest and oldest age segments. This pattern was independent of noise exposure level and self-reported noise sensitivity. The inverted U-shape explains the absence of linear age effects in previous studies. The results are discussed in light of theories predicting an age-related vulnerability to noise.",

author = "{van Gerven}, P.W.M. and {de Vos}, H and {van Boxtel}, M.P.J. and Janssen, {S. A.} and H.M. Miedema",

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AU - de Vos, H

AU - van Boxtel, M.P.J.

AU - Janssen, S. A.

AU - Miedema, H.M.

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N2 - Curvilinear effects of age on self-reported annoyance from environmental noise were investigated in a pooled international and a Dutch sample of in total 62,983 individuals aged between 15 and 102 years. All respondents were frequently exposed to varying levels of transportation noise (i.e., aircraft, road traffic, and railway noise). Results reveal an inverted U-shaped pattern, where the largest number of highly annoyed individuals was found in the middle-aged segment of the sample (peaking around 45 years) while the lowest number was found in the youngest and oldest age segments. This pattern was independent of noise exposure level and self-reported noise sensitivity. The inverted U-shape explains the absence of linear age effects in previous studies. The results are discussed in light of theories predicting an age-related vulnerability to noise.

AB - Curvilinear effects of age on self-reported annoyance from environmental noise were investigated in a pooled international and a Dutch sample of in total 62,983 individuals aged between 15 and 102 years. All respondents were frequently exposed to varying levels of transportation noise (i.e., aircraft, road traffic, and railway noise). Results reveal an inverted U-shaped pattern, where the largest number of highly annoyed individuals was found in the middle-aged segment of the sample (peaking around 45 years) while the lowest number was found in the youngest and oldest age segments. This pattern was independent of noise exposure level and self-reported noise sensitivity. The inverted U-shape explains the absence of linear age effects in previous studies. The results are discussed in light of theories predicting an age-related vulnerability to noise.

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