A longitudinal study of noise exposure, noise sensitivity,noise disturbed sleep and reports of health

摘要

The present study was part of a research project examining associations between noise exposure, noise sensitivity, noise disturbed sleep and health. Previous cross-sectional surveyshave suggested that associations between noise exposure, noise sensitivity and health largely reflect the personality trait of negative affectivity. However, associations between noise disturbed sleep and health remain even when one covaries negative affectivity. It is unclear whether noise disturbedsleep leads to impaired health or whether poor health makes one more sensitive to noise disturbed sleep. A longitudinal study examining changes in the two variables was, therefore, carried out to obtain a better indication of causality. 275 volunteers completed questionnaires assessing noiseexposure, noise sensitivity, noise disturbed sleep and health on two occasions 12 months apart. No associations were found between changes in noise disturbed sleep and changes in health. Possible reasons for this result will be discussed.