10.4% → 9.5%
artery dilation declined dose-dependently with more nighttime aircraft noise events
Exact: 10.4% vs 9.5%
Nighttime aircraft noise (60 events) reduces endothelial function dose-dependently
In a blinded field study, 75 healthy adults (mean age 26) spent nights at home under three conditions: no aircraft noise, 30 noise events and 60 noise events, each producing an average maximum sound level of 60 dB(A). Flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery, a measure of endothelial function, averaged 10.4% after control nights and 9.5% after 60 noise events, with 30 events falling between the two. A separate dose-dependency test confirmed the pattern followed noise level in a linear way.
For anyone shaping housing near flight paths or setting nighttime noise limits, this points to a plausible physiological pathway linking nighttime aircraft noise to cardiovascular strain: less arterial dilation after noisier nights, alongside raised morning adrenaline and stiffer arteries reported in the same study. It bears on planners, developers and public health bodies weighing exposure thresholds for residential building near airports.
The evidence is well supported for the dose-dependent pattern, which reached significance in the monotone test, but the direct three-way comparison across control, 30 and 60 events did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.052), so that particular contrast stays borderline. The study involved young healthy volunteers over single nights each, so it shows acute effects; it cannot speak to long-term outcomes or older or less healthy populations.
- HPA axis
- Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stress response pathway
- Sympathetic activation
- The sympathetic nervous system releases adrenaline and noradrenaline.
Housing
Although a standard comparison among the three noise levels within the ANOVA, i.e. without assuming a monotone effect for dose as a pseudo-continuous covariate, did not reach statistical significance (control night: 10.4 ± 3.8%; after 30 noise events: 9.7 ± 4.1%; after 60 noise events: 9.5 ± 4.3%, P = 0.052, Figure 2A)
Used in these factorsheets
Environmental noise lowers sleep quality.
Equivalent continuous sound level (LAeq) lowers sleep quality in intensive care units.
Transportation noise lowers sleep quality.
Environmental noise probably raises blood pressure.
Environmental noise probably raises heart rate.
Put to work
Architect
Spatial decay and masking deliver speech privacy on an open floor
In the value engineering round, a quantity surveyor keeps an acoustic specification only when it states a measurable target, such as ISO 3382-3's D2,S of 7 dB.
Asset manager
No rent premium attaches to the acoustic design on its own
Acoustic performance feeds the quality-to-rent-premium-to-exit-value chain the owner underwrites, yet the market prices it through a label average that says nothing about which measure earned it.
Corporate real estate manager
Intelligible speech cuts staff attention most on an open floor
Verbal short-term memory begins to fall at a speech transmission index of 0.21 to 0.44, on a staff bill that a 2006 REHVA guidebook puts at 100 to 200 times the energy bill.
Developer and investor
A green certificate does not report a floor's acoustic numbers
Acoustic quality reaches your rent roll only through the people in the building and only the first step of that chain is graded strong.
Developer and investor
A quiet guest room has no proven effect on rate or occupancy
The acoustic spend on a guest room reaches your pro forma only through rate, occupancy and review scores, and only the first link of that chain is evidenced.
HR manager
Overheard speech is the leading source of office dissatisfaction
The acoustic complaints in your survey trace to intelligible speech at nearby desks, and the evidence base is strong enough to defend a fit-out line before the CFO.
Marketing manager
Reduced speech intrusion is a claim the evidence supports
A measured claim, such as a decay rate or an STI value, sells the acoustic fit-out, because a surveyor can check it against a published standard, and no standard exists for 'comfort' or 'wellbeing'.
Workplace strategist
Sound level alone barely changes task performance
A finance committee approves acoustic capex only when the speech intelligibility figures behind it trace to a named study and a stated threshold.
Related studysheets
1.22×
higher odds of mild pre-eclampsia in workers exposed to noise above 80 dB (excluding Finland)
Occupational noise exceeding 80 dB is tentatively associated with 22% higher odds of mild pre-eclampsia, based on data from three of four Nordic countries
T. Pasanen et al., 2024, Occupational and Environmental Medicine
1.26×
higher odds of gestational diabetes in workers exposed to noise above 80 dB
Occupational noise exceeding 80 dB is associated with 26% higher odds of gestational diabetes compared with noise below 70 dB
T. Pasanen et al., 2024, Occupational and Environmental Medicine
greatest hormonal stress response observed at the highest noise level during task performance
The 75 dB noise exposure group showed the largest increase in stress hormone levels compared to the 35 dB and 45 dB groups during task performance
Sung-Hee Lee et al., 2024, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A
Read more in
Healthcare Hospital noise, still above the WHO floor
Behaviour and training cut ward noise by 4.8 dB. For tunable lighting on a general ward the evidence is not there yet.
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Healthcare How the hospital room affects recovery
Bright hospital wards cut analgesic use by 22 per cent.