Chronic exposure to aircraft noise elevated psychophysiological stress (resting blood pressure and overnight epinephrine and norepinephrine) and depressed quality-of-life indicators over a 2-year period among 9- to 11-year-old children. Data collected before and after the inauguration of a major new international airport in noise-impacted and comparison communities show that noise significantly elevates stress among children at ambient levels far below those necessary to produce hearing damage.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BaumA.FlemingI. (1993). Implications of psychological research on stress and technological accidents. American Psychologist, 48, 665–672.
2.
BaumA.GrunbergN. (1995). Measurement of stress hormones. In CohenS.KesslerR.C.GordonL., (Eds.), Measuring stress (pp. 175–192). New York: Oxford University Press.
3.
BaumA.GrunbergN.SingerJ.E. (1982). The use of psychological and neuroendocrinological measurements in the study of stress. Health Psychology, 1, 217–236.
4.
BullingerM.von MackensenS.KirchbergerI. (1994). KINDL—Ein Fragebogen zur Erfassung der Gesundheitsbezogenen Lebensqualität von Kindern. Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie, 11, 64–77.
5.
CohenS.EvansG.W.StokolsD.KrantzD.S. (1986). Behavior, health, and environmental stress. New York: Plenum Press.
6.
EvansG.W. (1994). The psychological costs of chronic exposure to ambient air pollution. In IsaacsonR.L.JensenK.F., (Eds.), The vulnerable brain and environmental risks: Vol. 3. Toxins in air and water (pp. 167–182). New York: Plenum Press.
7.
EvansG.W. (in press). Environmental stress and health. In BaumA.RevensonT.SingerJ.E., (Eds.), Handbook of health psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
8.
EvansG.W.CohenS. (1987). Environmental stress. In StokolsD.AltmanI., (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology (pp. 571–610). New York: Wiley.
EvansG.W.LeporeS.J. (1993). Nonauditory effects of noise on children. Children's Environment, 10, 31–51.
11.
FrankenhaeuserM. (1986). A psychobiological framework for research on stress and coping. In AppleyM.TrumbullR., (Eds.), Dynamics of stress (pp. 101–116). New York: Plenum Press.
12.
GlassD.C.SingerJ.E. (1972). Urban stress. New York: Academic Press.
13.
GrunbergN.SingerJ.E. (1990). Biochemical measurement. In CacioppoJ.TassinaryL., (Eds.), Principles of psychophysiology (pp. 149–176). New York: Cambridge University Press.
14.
HyggeS. (1997). Noise effects on health. In BaumA.NewmanS.WeinmanJ.WestR.McManusC., (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of psychology, health, and medicine (pp. 139–143). London: Cambridge University Press.
15.
KnipschildP. (1977). Medical effects of aircraft noise: Community cardiovascular survey. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 40, 185–190.
16.
KryterK. (1994). The handbook of hearing and the effects of noise. New York: Academic Press.
17.
LundbergU. (1984). Human psychobiology in Scandinavia: Psychoneuroendocrinology, human stress and coping processes. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 25, 214–226.
RigginR.KissingerP. (1977). Determination of catecholamines in urine by reverse phase liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. Analytic Chemistry, 49, 2109–2111.
20.
ThompsonS. (1993). Extra-aural health effects of chronic noise exposure in humans. In IsingH.KruppaB., (Eds.), Noise and disease (pp. 107–117). New York: Springer-Verlag.
