Noise Perception and Health Effects on Population: A Cross-Sectional Study on COVID-19 Lockdown by Noise Sources for Spanish Dwellings

Abstract

An online questionnaire on the subjective response to noise was created to collect national experiences from households during the first COVID-19 wave (from 14 March to 21 June). In this study, different noise sources (general noise, but also noise from neighbors, common areas, facilities, premises, and traffic) and self-declared health effects (stress, lack of concentration, sleep disturbance, anxiety, irritability, or their absence) reported from 582 participants were analyzed (before and during quarantine). A descriptive and statistical analysis between variables was established to observe relational trends for the two periods. The results associated stress and sleep disturbance with most of the noise sources before the pandemic. Sleep disturbance was not significant in confinement, maybe due to habit changes and staying home. Uncertainty linked to the pandemic could explain why stress showed significance during quarantine. Irritability showed an inverse relation with noise sources since their values were greater for declared noise sources and more annoying before the pandemic in all cases. Finally, anxiety showed an association with fewer noise sources, maybe also conditioned by other factors. However, the extreme situation and the uncertainty generated, the presence of cohabitants at home, and building factors (such as acoustic insulation) conditioned the households’ experience.

Sons al Balcó: A Comparative Analysis of WASN-Based LAeq Measured Values with Perceptual Questionnaires in Barcelona during the COVID-19 Lockdown

“…There are no significant biases in gender and age between the respondents. However, there is a clear bias in their educational level as 87.72% of the participants had a university degree, which is an usual bias in this type of research projects [ 41 ]. Also, the study is focused in Barcelona, which is a big metropolis.…”

“…Also, in [ 40 ] the situation was faced worldwide with questionnaires, including both indoors and outdoors, finding a clear improvement in the perception of the citizens facing the unpredictable situation of the pandemic. Another study conducted in Madrid on noise perception and related health effects during the lockdown presented a cross-sectional study by noise sources based on data collected from 582 participants who answered a questionnaire [ 41 ].…”

Experimental Evaluation of Noise Exposure Effects on Subjective Perceptions and Cognitive Performance

“…As suggested by reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) [1,8] and the European Environment Agency (EEA) [1,9], noise exposure is a major public health threat affecting both physical and mental health. Many studies have focused on the relationship between noise exposure and people's health [10][11][12][13]. A common health problem is noiseinduced hearing loss.…”

“…It may mean that the more complex the task, the greater the probability that the effects of noise would be evidenced. To sum up, the underlying mechanisms proposed above all indicate that noise should be considered to be cognitively taxing, thus limiting residual cognitive resources to attend to or process target stimuli/information [11,66]. These hypotheses, however, have not been comprehensively validated, and the analysis of the impact pathway on various types of human cognitive processes is limited.…”