Annoyance and self-reported sleep disturbance due to night-time railway noise examined in the field

Pennig, S.; Quehl, Julia; Mueller, U.; Rolny, Vinzent; Maaß, H.; Basner, Mathias; Elmenhorst, Eva‐Maria

doi:10.1121/1.4757732

Cited by 23 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The noise events in the night are dominated by freight train traffic which has been shown to be more annoying than passenger train traffic. [7,9,59] The data support the penalties applied to the night and evening before combining noise levels to the energy equivalent noise index L den and even higher penalty for the evening than applied at present, since no significant differences between the night-time and evening period were found.…”

Section: (○) Latent Variable (□) Observed Variablesupporting

confidence: 52%

Railway noise annoyance: Exposure-response relationships and testing a theoretical model by structural equation analysis

Pennig

Schady

2014

Noise Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In some regions the exposure to railway noise is extremely concentrated, which may lead to high residential annoyance. Nonacoustical factors contribute to these reactions, but there is limited evidence on the interrelations between the nonacoustical factors that influence railway noise annoyance. The aims of the present study were (1) to examine exposure-response relationships between long-term railway noise exposure and annoyance in a region severely affected by railway noise and (2) to determine a priori proposed interrelations between nonacoustical factors by structural equation analysis. Residents (n = 320) living close to railway tracks in the Middle Rhine Valley completed a socio-acoustic survey. Individual noise exposure levels were calculated by an acoustical simulation model for this area. The derived exposure-response relationships indicated considerably higher annoyance at the same noise exposure level than would have been predicted by the European Union standard curve, particularly for the night-time period. In the structural equation analysis, 72% of the variance in noise annoyance was explained by the noise exposure (L(den)) and nonacoustical variables. The model provides insights into several causal mechanisms underlying the formation of railway noise annoyance considering indirect and reciprocal effects. The concern about harmful effects of railway noise and railway traffic, the perceived control and coping capacity, and the individual noise sensitivity were the most important factors that influence noise annoyance. All effects of the nonacoustical factors on annoyance were mediated by the perceived control and coping capacity and additionally proposed indirect effects of the theoretical model were supported by the data.

show abstract

Section: (○) Latent Variable (□) Observed Variablesupporting

confidence: 52%

Railway noise annoyance: Exposure-response relationships and testing a theoretical model by structural equation analysis

Pennig

Schady

2014

Noise Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This question is of high environmental importance, especially as there is an expected increase in the market share of freight traffic from 8% in 2001 to 15% in 2020 [5]. To contextualise the potential problem, recent field studies have observed between 3–19 nightly freight pass-bys in Norway [6] and up to 150 during bedtime in Germany [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Influence of Freight Trains on Humans: A Laboratory Investigation of the Impact of Nocturnal Low Frequency Vibration and Noise on Sleep and Heart Rate

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundA substantial increase in transportation of goods on railway may be hindered by public fear of increased vibration and noise leading to annoyance and sleep disturbance. As the majority of freight trains run during night time, the impact upon sleep is expected to be the most serious adverse effect. The impact of nocturnal vibration on sleep is an area currently lacking in knowledge. We experimentally investigated sleep disturbance with the aim to ascertain the impact of increasing vibration amplitude.Methodology/Principal FindingsThe impacts of various amplitudes of horizontal vibrations on sleep disturbance and heart rate were investigated in a laboratory study. Cardiac accelerations were assessed using a combination of polysomnography and ECG recordings. Sleep was assessed subjectively using questionnaires. Twelve young, healthy subjects slept for six nights in the sleep laboratory, with one habituation night, one control night and four nights with a variation of vibration exposures whilst maintaining the same noise exposure. With increasing vibration amplitude, we found a decrease in latency and increase in amplitude of heart rate as well as a reduction in sleep quality and increase in sleep disturbance.Conclusions/SignificanceWe concluded that nocturnal vibration has a negative impact on sleep and that the impact increases with greater vibration amplitude. Sleep disturbance has short- and long-term health consequences. Therefore, it is necessary to define levels that protect residents against sleep disruptive vibrations that may arise from night time railway freight traffic.

show abstract

“…However, the time constant used for averaging in the calculations of the noise level seems to have a relevant effect on the annoyance, as recently shown in a study on nighttime annoyance and sleep disturbance (Pennig et al, 2012). In that study, the L Aeq averaged over the night did not correlate with the reported annoyance or sleep disturbance of that night when controlling for nonacoustical factors; however, the number of trains, and in particular, the number of freight trains did.…”

Section: Implications For Long-term Annoyancementioning

confidence: 81%

Effect of train type on annoyance and acoustic features of the rolling noise

Kasess¹,

Noll²,

Majdak³

et al. 2013

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study investigated the annoyance associated with the rolling noise of different railway stock. Passbys of nine train types (passenger and freight trains) equipped with different braking systems were recorded. Acoustic features showed a clear distinction of the braking system with the A-weighted energy equivalent sound level (LAeq) showing a difference in the range of 10 dB between cast-iron braked trains and trains with disk or K-block brakes. Further, annoyance was evaluated in a psychoacoustic experiment where listeners rated the relative annoyance of the rolling noise for the different train types. Stimuli with and without the original LAeq differences were tested. For the original LAeq differences, the braking system significantly affected the annoyance with cast-iron brakes being most annoying, most likely as a consequence of the increased wheel roughness causing an increased LAeq. Contribution of the acoustic features to the annoyance was investigated revealing that the LAeq explained up to 94% of the variance. For the stimuli without differences in the LAeq, cast-iron braked train types were significantly less annoying and the spectral features explained up to 60% of the variance in the annoyance. The effect of these spectral features on the annoyance of the rolling noise is discussed.

show abstract

Annoyance and self-reported sleep disturbance due to night-time railway noise examined in the field

Cited by 23 publications

References 31 publications

Railway noise annoyance: Exposure-response relationships and testing a theoretical model by structural equation analysis

Railway noise annoyance: Exposure-response relationships and testing a theoretical model by structural equation analysis

On the Influence of Freight Trains on Humans: A Laboratory Investigation of the Impact of Nocturnal Low Frequency Vibration and Noise on Sleep and Heart Rate

Effect of train type on annoyance and acoustic features of the rolling noise

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About