By Joyce Ojanji
Sounds from vehicles during traffic have been found to increase stress and anxiety especially in urban areas.
This is according to a new study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Paul Lintott of the University of the West of England and Lia Gilmour of the Bat Conservation Trust in the United Kingdom.
68 student volunteers, participating in the study, listened to three 3-minute soundscapes: a nature soundscape recorded at sunrise in West Sussex, U.K., the same soundscape combined with 20 mile per hour road traffic sounds, and the same soundscape with 40 mile per hour traffic sounds. General mood and anxiety were assessed before and after the soundscapes using self-reported scales.
The study found that listening to a natural soundscape reduced self-reported stress and anxiety levels, and also enhanced mood recovery after a stressor.
However, the benefits of improved mood associated with the natural soundscape was limited when traffic sounds were included. The natural soundscape alone was associated with the lowest levels of stress and anxiety, with the highest levels reported after the soundscape that included 40 mile per hour traffic.
“Our study shows that listening to natural soundscapes can reduce stress and anxiety, and that anthropogenic sounds such as traffic noise can mask potential positive impacts. Reducing traffic speeds in cities is therefore an important step towards more people experiencing the positive effects of nature on their health and wellbeing,” the researchers said.
According World Health Organization (WHO) estimations, exposure to traffic-related noise accounts for a yearly loss of more than 1.5 million years of healthy life in Western Europe with 61,000 years for ischemic heart disease, 45,000 years for cognitive impairment of children, 903,000 years for sleep disturbance, 22,000 years for tinnitus, and 654,000 years for annoyance.
Also, conservative estimates for the European Region, show that exposure to noise from road traffic, railway, and aircraft leads to annoyance among 53 million and to sleep disturbance among 34 million adults, resulting each year in nearly 1.7 million additional prevalent cases of hypertension, 80,000 additional cases of hospital admissions, and to 18,000 cases of premature mortality due to ischemic heart disease and stroke.
Existing research shows that natural sounds, like birdsong, can lower blood pressure, heart, and respiratory rates, as well as self-reported stress and anxiety. Conversely, anthropogenic soundscapes, like traffic or aircraft noise, are hypothesized to have negative effects on human health and wellbeing in a variety of ways.
In conclusion, the authors noted that reducing traffic speed in urban areas might influence human health and wellbeing not only through its safety impacts, but also through its effect on natural soundscapes.
