Physiological, subjective, and behavioural responses during sleep to noise from rail and road traffic

An interdisciplinary study was performed to examine the difference between road and rail traffic noise with regard to physiological, subjective, and behavioural responses. In 8 areas where either rail or road noise prevailed, a total of 1 600 persons (18 to 70 years of age) were interviewed; a subgroup of 377 persons was examined during 2 times 5 nights each. In this sleep observation period noise impact and body movements were recorded continuously during each night. Every morning the subjects stated the position of the windows during the night, they evaluated the qualitative and quantitative parameters of sleep and performed a 4-choice reaction time test. Only the behaviour to sleep with open or closed windows was significantly associated with the rating level and the windows were significantly more often closed by the residents primarily exposed to road noise. Whether this indicates a reaction to noise or to concomitant pollutants such as odour is, however, debatable. The fact that none of the other data recorded here revealed any difference between the two types of noise is discussed in view of future studies.