[Noise annoyance in the German general population : Prevalence and determinants in the Gutenberg Health Study]

Noise annoyance, especially from traffic noise, is a massive problem in the population and is associated with impaired health.

Based on data from the population representative Gutenberg Health Study (GHS), the prevalence of noise annoyance from different sources and relevant determinants were identified.

The GHS is a population-based, prospective cohort study in Germany that included subjects aged 35-74 years. In the study 15,010 participants from the city of Mainz and the district of Mainz-Bingen were asked from 2007 to 2012 to what extent they had recently felt annoyed by aircraft, road, rail, industrial and neighborhood noise (answers ranged from not at all to extremely). A distinction was made between noise annoyance during the day and during sleep. To examine the relationships between sociodemographic variables, cardiovascular risk factors as well as diseases and noise annoyance, multivariable logistic regression models were used.

Approximately 80% of the participants felt annoyed by noise. Aircraft noise annoyance during the day was the predominant source of noise annoyance with the highest prevalence of strongly (9.6%) and extremely annoyed participants (5.4%), followed by road traffic (strongly 4.0% and extremely 1.6%) and neighborhood noise annoyance (strongly 3.5% and extremely 1.3%). Noise annoyance tended to decrease with increasing age. Relevant determinants of noise annoyance included gender, age, socioeconomic status, depression, anxiety disorder, sleep disorder and atrial fibrillation.

Noise annoyance is common in the population and is associated with sociodemographic variables, cardiovascular risk factors and diseases.