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Non-specific building-related symptoms (NBRSs) describe various symptoms in those affected. Questionnaires are the first step in investigating suspected NBRSs in office environments and have been used for over two decades. However, changes in reporting of symptoms among office workers over time are currently unknown. The overall aim was thus to investigate if reported symptoms and perceived causality to the office environment have changed during 25 years of using the MM 040 NA Office questionnaire. A cross-sectional study of 26,477 questionnaires from 1995–2020 was conducted, where 12 symptoms and perceived causality to office environment were examined using logistic regression analyses of 5-year groups adjusted for sex and atopy. Reporting trends in the year groups varied slightly among symptoms, but eight symptoms were statistically significant in the 2015–2020 group compared to the 1995–1999 group. Seven symptoms had increased: fatigue, heavy-feeling head, headache, difficulties concentrating, itchy/irritated eyes, congested/runny nose, and dry/red hands. One symptom decreased: hoarseness/dry throat. Perceived causality of symptoms to the office environment decreased to a statistically significant degree in 2015–2020 for 11 symptoms, and there was an overall trend of decreasing perceived causality throughout the year groups for most symptoms. The observed time trends suggest a need for up-to-date reference data, to keep up with changes in symptom reporting in office environments over time.

Epidemiological studies on sleep often use questionnaires, and measurement of validity provides necessary guidance in selection of valid single sleep questions. Twenty-five items assessing different aspects of sleep, including overall sleep quality, specific sleep parameters, nocturnal restoration, and exposure-related questions, were tested. This involved coherence with objective polysomnographic (PSG) laboratory measurements of sleep in 47 participants and application of selected items under field conditions in over 3,000 participants. Items on overall sleep quality correlated significantly with PSG data. For specific sleep parameter questions, tiredness in the morning, time to fall asleep, difficulties to sleep and estimated number of awakenings were correlated to PSG data. Questions asking specifically about the effect of potential sleep disturbances correlated poorly with PSG data, but showed highest effects between environmental exposure (noise and vibration) and control nights in the laboratory and highest correlation with the dose of exposure in the field. In conclusion, healthy participants seem to be able to access their sleep reliably; and sleep questions asking about specific sleep parameters can be recommended for the assessment of sleep.

Development and evaluation of a category ratio scale with semantic descriptors : The environmental annoyance scale

Undisturbed sleep is essential for physiological and psychological health. Children have a special need for uninterrupted sleep for growth and cognitive development. Noise is an environmental factor that affects most children, but the knowledge of how children's health, wellbeing and cognitive development are affected by noise disturbed sleep due to road traffic is very incomplete. It has been shown that although children are less likely to wake up or react with sleep cycle shifts due to nighttime exposure, they might be more likely to react with physiological effects such as blood pressure reactions and related motility during sleep. The aim of this paper is to formulate a set of hypotheses as a base for future studies into the short and long term effects of noise induced sleep deprivation on health and child development and how this effects health and wellbeing later on in life. Because the literature is still trying to understand the nature of sleep disturbance among children in general a scoping review was used to achieve this, combining conceptual issues with a description of the scarce literature on noise and sleep disturbance in children as example. Based on this a set of hypotheses was formulated. It is concluded that future studies into the health effect of environmental noise exposure in early life should address these potential hypotheses and mechanisms and pay specific attention to the mediating role of sleep related aspects, including noise in conjunction with other environmental exposures such as indoor climate and exposure to sounds and light from electronic devices.

The aim of this study is to compare vibration exposure to noise exposure from railway traffic in terms of equal annoyance, i.e., to determine when a certain noise level is equally annoying as a corresponding vibration velocity. Based on questionnaire data from the Train Vibration and Noise Effects (TVANE) research project from residential areas exposed to railway noise and vibration, the dose response relationship for annoyance was estimated. By comparing the relationships between exposure and annoyance for areas both with and without significant vibration exposure, the noise levels and vibration velocities that had an equal probability of causing annoyance was determined using logistic regression. The comparison gives a continuous mapping between vibration velocity in the ground and a corresponding noise level at the facade that are equally annoying. For equivalent noise level at the facade compared to maximum weighted vibration velocity in the ground the probability of annoyance is approximately 20% for 59 dB or 0.48 mm/s, and about 40% for 63 dB or 0.98 mm/s.

Increasing evidence shows that certain personality traits, such as negative affectivity (trait NA), are strongly associated with the reporting of symptoms. The role of personality in sick building syndrome (SBS) symptom reporting is therefore explored with the aid of a questionnaire completed by occupants living in apartments with indoor climate problems. A good fit to empirical data was obtained for a path model in which somatization intervenes between a general psychological factor (predominated by trait NA) and SBS. Occupants with "normal" and "aberrant" NA profiles were classified by cluster analysis and further divided according to frequency of symptoms. For occupants with 5 or more SBS symptoms, those with "aberrant" NA profiles have very similar SBS symptom profiles to those with "normal" NA profiles. This indicates that an occupant's trait NA score cannot be used for predicting his or her SBS symptom profile or frequency of SBS symptoms. An unexpected finding was that the occupants with "aberrant" NA profiles also perceived factors in the indoor (air) environment as less adverse than the 5 or more symptom reporting occupants with "normal" NA profile. Pennebaker and Brittingham's competition of external and internal cues model may explain the results for the occupants with "aberrant" NA profiles, however, our empirical data indicate that, unexpectedly, these occupants may not over-report SBS symptoms but rather under-report adverse environmental perceptions.

Results from the present study suggest that magnitude estimation of odor annoyance shows acceptable reliability and that it generates stable individual psychophysical power functions with relatively similar exponent sizes between subjects.

In urban areas, road traffrc noise is a dominant source of environmental noise and a major cause of noise annoyance and disturbed sleep. It has been hypothesized that respondents highly exposed to noise at multiple sides of their dwelling, may be expected to be worse off than respondents with the same exposure at the most exposed side, but also having a quiet side to their dwelling. Previous studies provide support for this hypothesis, however to date only a limited number of studies have investigated this hypothesis. There is a need for strengthening existing evidence, and for further quantification of the effects. Within the EU project QSIDE, the effect of the least exposed facade on annoyance and sleep response is studied in different EU cities in Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands, including Gothenburg, Stockholm, Antwerp, Gent and Amsterdam. In this paper we discuss the general picture arising from the outcome of these studies. We discuss what the implications may be for new situations (urban planning) and existing high exposure situations (noise abatement measures). The noise environment may be improved by taking into account the exposure levels, and promoting quietness, at the least exposed façade.

I Stenungsund finns en stor del av Sveriges petrokemiska industri och en fortsatt utbyggnad planeras i framtiden. Flera enkätstudier har gjorts, bl.a. av besvär i form av lukt och buller. Resultat från den senaste undersökningen (2006) visade att cirka var fjärde av de boende nära industrierna störs av industrilukt och ungefär lika många av industribuller. Många rapporterar oro för hälsoeffekter till följd av utsläpp i luften eller till följd av olyckor. Vi har nu gjort uppföljningar där syftet är att med enkäter och intervjuer få bättre kunskap om detta. Denna rapport redovisar resultatet från enkätstudien. En postenkät skickades ut till 358 slumpvis valda personer i Stenungsund (”norr” och ”mitt”) samt i Ödsmåls tätort. Den besvarades av 52 % med en medelålder av cirka 55 år. Enkäten innehöll frågor om bl.a. bostad och boendemiljö, olägenheter i miljön och hur mycket man oroades av dessa. Majoriteten trivs mycket bra med bostadsområdet men störningar av buller är vanligt. Andelen störda (ganska mycket, mycket eller oerhört mycket störda) av buller från industrin är högst i Ödsmål (32 %), som ligger i den förhärskande vindriktningen från industriområden, och i norra Stenungsund (27 %) och lägst i Stenungsund mitt (19 %). Få är störda av lukt från industrin (ca 10 %). De som angav att industrin syns från bostaden var mer störda av både buller och lukt. Störningarna innebar störd avkoppling och sömnkvalitet. Andelen störda av buller och lukt var lägre än 2006, men frågorna skiljer sig något mellan de två undersökningarna, vilket kan ha påverkat utfallet. Möjligen har minskad fackling lett till minskad andel bullerstörda. Andelen bullerstörda är ändå hög och åtgärder för att minska eller skydda mot bullret från fackling och lågfrekvent buller från kompressorer, ventilation och andra bullerkällor är önskvärda. Minskningen av andelen luktstörda skulle kunna bero på minskade utsläpp av luktande ämnen, men vi har inga uppgifter om detta. Oro för hälsopåverkan (ibland/periodvis eller mera ofta) av luftföroreningar från industrin är störst i Ödsmål (48 %) och i norra Stenungsund (44 %). I dessa områden är även flest oroliga för olyckshändelser i samband med industriell verksamhet (51 och 46 %, respektive). De som tydligt ser industrin från eller nära bostaden var betydligt mer oroade för hälsopåverkan av luftföroreningar från industrin och industriolyckor (61 %) än de som inte ser den. De som var anställda i industrin var något mindre oroade. Den totala andelen oroade var ungefär densamma som år 2006. Det fanns ett samband mellan oro och irritation och stress. Cirka 5 % oroas dagligen eller nästan dagligen vilket sannolikt innebär en försämrad livskvalitet. Oron beror sannolikt på både objektiva och subjektiva faktorer. Objektiva faktorer är faktiska utsläpp av potentiellt hälsofarliga ämnen och att det finns en möjlig risk för olyckor med stora konsekvenser för de boende. Subjektiva faktorer som kan påverka oron är diskussioner i massmedia kring effekter på miljön och hälsa, bristande kunskap och information om eller misstro mot industrins verksamhet. Oro för industriell verksamhet minskar i allmänhet vid öppenhet, ökad information och kontakt med befolkningen.

Internationally accepted exposure-response relationships show that railway noise causes less annoyance than road traffic and aircraft noise. Railway transport, both passenger and freight transport, is increasing, and new railway lines are planned for environmental reasons. The combination of more frequent railway traffic and faster and heavier trains will, most probably, lead to more disturbances from railway traffic in the near future. To effectively plan for mitigations against noise and vibration from railway traffic, new studies are needed to obtain a better basis of knowledge. The main objectives of the present study was to investigate how the relationship between noise levels from railway traffic and general annoyance is influenced by (i) number of trains, (ii) the presence of ground borne vibrations, and (iii) building situational factors, such as orientation of balcony/patio and bedroom window. Socio-acoustic field studies were executed in residential areas; (1) with relatively intense railway traffic; (2) with strong vibrations, and; (3) with the most intense railway traffic in the country. Data was obtained for 1695 respondents exposed to sound levels ranging from L(Aeq,24h) 45 to 65 dB. Both number of trains and presence of ground-borne vibrations, and not just the noise level per se, are of relevance for how annoying railway noise is perceived. The results imply that, for the proportion annoyed to be equal, a 5 - 7 dB lower noise level is needed in areas where the railway traffic causes strong ground-borne vibrations and in areas with a very large number of trains. General noise annoyance was twice as high among residents in dwellings with balcony / patio oriented towards the railway and about 1.5 times higher among residents with bedroom windows facing the railway.

This study is part of the Swedish research program TVANE, where a number of questionnaire surveys have been performed. A comparison between three areas demonstrates that the reported annoyance is higher where the traffic intensity is higher even if the equivalent noise level is the same. The traffic intensity varies with a factor of 7 between the areas, and the reported annoyance is increased 1.3 – 2.5 times.

In the Nordic countries, a receiver height of 2 m has often been used when calculating noise levels over large areas for socio-acoustic surveys, but within the EU 4 m is used. Here, results are presented for railway noise calculations at both heights in 1459 points across several areas in Sweden. The average difference in equivalent level is 2.5 dB higher at 4 m height than at 2 m, which in turn leads to 10 % – 40 % less predicted annoyance if the exposure is calculated at 4 m.

Forskningsprogrammet har fokuserat på att studera hur buller och vibrationer från tågtrafik upplevs av människor i deras boendemiljö med avseende på allmän störning, påverkan på olika dagliga aktiviteter inomhus och utanför bostaden samt hur de störs av buller och vibrationer under sin sömn. Jämförande studier har belyst skillnader i upplevelse av vägtrafikbuller och tågbuller och hur antalet tåg per dygn inverkar på olika upplevda effekter. Det förekommer ofta att bostäder är utsatta för buller både från stora trafikleder och från järnvägslinjer med hög trafikering. TVANE-programmet har studerat hur människor upplever trafikbuller i sådana situationer. Som ett komplement till fältepidemiologiska studier har experimentella studier under väl kontrollerade exponeringsförhållanden och hemlika miljöer genomförts i Ljudmiljölaboratoriet vid Arbets- och miljömedicin. I ett experiment har effekter på sömnen av vibrationer och buller från tågtrafik studerats och ett annat sömnexperiment har belyst effekter av vägtrafikbuller och tågbuller. För att kunna bestämma exponeringen för buller och vibrationer på de platser där undersökningarna genomförts har ett stort antal mätningar och beräkningar utförts inom projektet. Beräkningarna är utförda enligt de standardiserade nordiska metoderna för buller från tåg- och vägtrafik. Mätningarna genomfördes dels som korta stickprov av buller och vibrationer, dels som mer omfattande vibrationsmätningar under ett dygn för att kartlägga vibrationsexponeringen i de områden som var känsliga för markvibrationer.

Denna rapport utgör slutrapport inom forskningsprogrammet TVANE - Effekter av buller och vibrationer från tåg- och vägtrafik - tågbonus, skillnader och samverkan mellan tåg- och vägtrafik. TRV 2010/23572 (tidigare Banverket Dnr: S07-5094/AL50 samt Dnr: S07-5095/AL50).

The present paper explores the influence of the physical environmental qualities of “quiet” courtyards (degree of naturalness and utilization) on residents’ noise responses. A questionnaire study was conducted in urban residential areas with road-traffic noise exposure between LAeq,24h 58 to 68 dB at the most exposed façade. The dwellings had “quiet” indoor section/s and faced a “quiet” outdoor courtyard (LAeq,24h < 48 dB façade reflex included). Data were collected from 385 residents and four groups were formed based on sound-level categories (58–62 and 63–68 dB) and classification of the “quiet” courtyards into groups with low and high physical environmental quality. At both sound-level categories, the results indicate that access to high-quality “quiet” courtyards is associated with less noise annoyance and noise-disturbed outdoor activities among the residents. Compared to low-quality “quiet” courtyards, high-quality courtyards can function as an attractive restorative environment providing residents with a positive soundscape, opportunities for rest, relaxation and play as well as social relations that potentially reduce the adverse effects of noise. However, access to quietness and a high-quality courtyard can only compensate partly for high sound levels at façades facing the streets, thus, 16% and 29% were still noise annoyed at 58–62 and 63–68 dB, respectively. Implications of the “quiet”-side concept are discussed.

Denna rapport utgör delrapport inom forskningsprogrammet TVANE - Effekter av buller och vibrationer från tåg- och vägtrafik - tågbonus, skillnader och samverkan mellan tåg- och vägtrafik.

Denna rapport utgör delrapport inom forskningsprogrammet TVANE - Effekter av buller och vibrationer från tåg- och vägtrafik - tågbonus, skillnader och samverkan mellan tåg- och vägtrafik.

Denna rapport utgör delrapport inom forskningsprogrammet TVANE - Effekter av buller och vibrationer från tåg- och vägtrafik - tågbonus, skillnader och samverkan mellan tåg- och vägtrafik.

Denna rapport utgör delrapport inom forskningsprogrammet TVANE - Effekter av buller och vibrationer från tåg- och vägtrafik - tågbonus, skillnader och samverkan mellan tåg- och vägtrafik.

This paper describes a laboratory sleep study with an exposure situation corresponding to a dwelling close to a railway. Both noise and bed vibrations were generated for passing trains, and the sleep quality of the test subjects was evaluated using questionnaires before and after sleep. A total of 21 test subjects slept five nights in the laboratory, and three different exposure situations were presented in a randomized order after two nights for habituation. The three exposures were combined from two noise levels and two vibration amplitudes; one with high noise levels and strong vibrations, one with lower noise levels and strong vibrations and one with high noise levels and weaker vibrations. The results indicate that the perceived sleep disturbance from noise increased with increasing vibration amplitude. There was no such interaction effect for perceived sleep disturbance due to vibrations, i.e. sleep disturbance due to vibrations was the same irrespective of noise level. These results suggest that it will not be sufficient to reduce the noise levels to protect from sleep disturbances, e.g. by sound insulating windows and noise barriers, if vibration levels are high. The vibration levels must also be addressed.

There has been a growing recognition among noise researchers that natural elements and natural areas of the built environment have potentials to reduce annoyance due to traffic noise. It has been suggested that presence of vegetation (e.g., trees, bushes, grass, flowers) contributes to an aesthetically pleasing environment, which influence overall residential satisfaction and people?s perception of the noise. Other expected benefits of natural elements/areas are prevention or modification of adverse effects of work-, personal-, or environmental stress (e.g., noise) through restoration processes. Within the large TVANE-project, the present study examined the effect of green areas (park or similar at walking distance) on noise responses in residential settings (n=468) exposed to road traffic noise (LAeq,24h 45 to 65 dB). A binary multiple logistic regression analysis, with sound exposure as the prime variable assumed to predict general noise annoyance at home, indicated that presence of green areas, a closer distance to it from the subject?s home, and perceived green-area characteristics (good sound environment, high attractiveness and potentials for recreational activities) significantly lowered noise annoyance. The results suggest that the exposure-response relationship between noise and annoyance is influenced by access to nearby green areas provided that they have good environmental quality, particularly regarding the perceived sound environment

We investigated a recently introduced office automation system at Swedish Telecom. In a first study, where 275 users answered an inventory, the users indicated that they found the system useful, b ...

The aim was to develop and evaluate a seven-point category scale, called the Environmental Annoyance Scale (EAS), with semantic descriptors and ratio-scale properties. Six studies were conducted that involved ratings of perceived magnitude of descriptors, selection of seven descriptors with semantic coherency, and ratings of various environmental issues. Seven semantically coherent descriptors with subjective equidistance and small interindividual variability were selected for the EAS. Environmental ratings on the EAS were linearly related to magnitude estimations, and the two rating procedures generated very similar exponents of the psychophysical power function. The used selection procedure was found to be reliable and not likely affected by the respondent's educational level, and the reliability of the EAS per se was found to be satisfying. The EAS appears to have properties that approach those of a ratio scale, and to be reliable and valid for assessment of environmental annoyance.

Increasing evidence shows that certain personality traits, such as negative affectivity (trait NA), are strongly associated with the reporting of symptoms. The role of personality in sick building syndrome (SBS) symptom reporting is therefore explored with the aid of a questionnaire completed by occupants living in apartments with indoor climate problems. A good fit to empirical data was obtained for a path model in which somatization intervenes between a general psychological factor (predominated by trait NA) and SBS. Occupants with "normal" and "aberrant" NA profiles were classified by cluster analysis and further divided according to frequency of symptoms. For occupants with 5 or more SBS symptoms, those with "aberrant" NA profiles have very similar SBS symptom profiles to those with "normal" NA profiles. This indicates that an occupant's trait NA score cannot be used for predicting his or her SBS symptom profile or frequency of SBS symptoms. An unexpected finding was that the occupants with "aberrant" NA profiles also perceived factors in the indoor (air) environment as less adverse than the 5 or more symptom reporting occupants with "normal" NA profile. Pennebaker and Brittingham's competition of external and internal cues model may explain the results for the occupants with "aberrant" NA profiles, however, our empirical data indicate that, unexpectedly, these occupants may not over-report SBS symptoms but rather under-report adverse environmental perceptions.

Undisturbed sleep is essential for physiological and psychological health. Children have a special need for uninterrupted sleep for growth and cognitive development. Noise is an environmental factor that affects most children. In addition to noise in schools and preschools, many are exposed to potentially disturbing traffic related noise at night. The knowledge of how children's health, wellbeing and cognitive development is affected by noise disturbed sleep due to road traffic is very incomplete. Nor do we know how children are able to handle noisy situations (coping) and if a learned noise-related behavior in the long term has a negative influence on children's health and learning. The need for a restorative home environment can be particularly important when the child is simultaneously exposed to noise in the school environment. Moreover, it has been shown that although children are less sensitive for awakenings and sleep cycle shifts due to nighttime exposure, they are more sensitive for physiological effects such as blood pressure reactions and related motility during sleep. This paper aims to review existing knowledge on how children's health and cognitive development are affected by noise in the home and school environment, with special focus on the importance of noise-disturbed sleep.

In a residential area exposed to road traffic noise a socio-acoustic longitudinal study was conducted to investigate the effects of a large intervention project on acoustical conditions and resident's noise responses. The paper presents results on general noise annoyance, noise disturbed activities and perceptions of the sound environment in relation to obtained noise levels before and after the interventions. The most comprehensive abatement measures implemented were construction of new buildings that filled in gaps between buildings facing the highway and erection of a noise barrier to create less noise-exposed court- yards and sides of the dwellings. One building site had a considerable renovation, such as installation of new windows, glazed-in balconies, and an upgrading to two-sided flats with windows facing the quieter courtyard. Overall in the resi- dential area, noise levels were reduced with 5–10 dB at the most traffic exposed side and with 4–10 dB at the less noise exposed side. General noise annoyance and sleep disturbances decreased substantially and the perceived sound environ- ment indoors and outdoors was improved for a majority of the investigated building sites. Through the successful combination of measures taken in the res- idential area, we obtained significant positive effects; however, measures to fur- ther reduce the negative impacts of noise on health and well-being and to improve the sound environment are needed and suggested.