The effects on sleep of ground borne noise from trains in tunnels

• In residential areas around railway tunnels, there is no direct airborne noise from the railways, but residents may be exposed to ground borne noise. Nocturnal airborne railway noise has been shown to be potentially disruptive to sleep, but there is only limited previous research on the effects of ground borne railway noise. Here we present laboratory studies investigating how ground borne railway noise at levels occurring in the field impacts on sleep. Data on sound pressure level, duration and frequency content of ground borne noise from railways were collected from the scientific literature, from measurement reports and by renewed measurements at a few locations in Stockholm, Sweden. Using these data as input, the exposures for the sleep studies were synthesised to represent the variation seen in the gathered data. An initial pilot study (n=5) investigated possible differential effects of frequency content and duration (passenger vs. freight trains). Data from the pilot study implicated very low frequency train passages as potentially disruptive for sleep. The following main study (n=23) therefore further examined frequency content, and additionally examined the effect of noise level. Across both studies, young and healthy individuals spent five nights in a laboratory furnished to resemble an apartment. The first night was for adaptation to the study setting. The following four nights included a single quiet night to obtain baseline sleep, and three exposure nights involving synthesised ground borne noise from passenger and freight trains. Effects on sleep physiology and self-reported sleep outcomes were obtained using polysomnography and questionnaires respectively, although physiologic outcomes from the pilot only are herein reported.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Strömningsmekanik och akustik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Arbetsmedicin och miljömedicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Occupational Health and Environmental Health (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

sleep railway noise

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)