Traffic noise-induced changes in wake-propensity measured with the Odds-Ratio Product (ORP)

Michael G Smith; Magdy Younes; Daniel Aeschbach; Eva-Maria Elmenhorst; Uwe Müller; Mathias Basner

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150191

Traffic noise-induced changes in wake-propensity measured with the Odds-Ratio Product (ORP)

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jan 20:805:150191. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150191. Epub 2021 Sep 7.

Authors

Michael G Smith¹, Magdy Younes², Daniel Aeschbach³, Eva-Maria Elmenhorst⁴, Uwe Müller⁵, Mathias Basner⁶

Affiliations

¹ Unit for Experimental Psychiatry, Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
² Sleep Disorders Center, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
³ Department of Sleep and Human Factors Research, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center, Cologne, Germany; Faculty of Medicine, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
⁴ Department of Sleep and Human Factors Research, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center, Cologne, Germany; Institute for Occupational and Social Medicine, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
⁵ Department of Sleep and Human Factors Research, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center, Cologne, Germany.
⁶ Unit for Experimental Psychiatry, Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Electronic address: basner@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.

PMID: 34818802
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150191

Abstract

Nocturnal traffic noise can disrupt sleep and impair physical and mental restoration, but classical sleep scoring techniques may not fully capture subtle yet clinically relevant alterations of sleep induced by noise. We used a validated continuous measure of sleep depth and quality based on automatic analysis of physiologic sleep data, termed Wake Propensity (WP), to investigate temporal changes of sleep in response to nocturnal noise events in 3-s epochs. Seventy-two healthy participants (mean age 40.3 years, range 18-71 years, 40 females, 32 males) slept for 11 nights in a laboratory, during which we measured sleep with polysomnography. In 8 nights, participants were exposed to 40, 80 or 120 road, rail and/or aircraft noise events with maximum noise levels of 45-65 dB L_AS,max during 8-h sleep opportunities. We analyzed sleep macrostructure and event-related change of WP during noise exposure with linear mixed models. Nocturnal traffic noise led to event-related shifts towards wakefulness and less deep, more unstable sleep (increase in WP relative to pre-noise baseline ranging from +29.5% at 45 dB to +38.3% at 65 dB; type III effect p < 0.0001). Sleep depth decreased dynamically with increasing noise level, peaking when L_AS,max was highest. This change in WP was stronger and occurred more quickly for events where the noise onset was more rapid (road and rail) compared to more gradually time-varying noise (aircraft). Sleep depth did not immediately recover to pre-noise WP, leading to decreased sleep stability across the night compared to quiet nights, which was greater with an increasing number of noise events (standardized β = 0.053, p = 0.003). Further, WP was more sensitive to noise than classical arousals. Results demonstrate the usefulness of WP as a measure of the effects of external stimuli on sleep, and show WP is a more sensitive measure of noise-induced sleep disruption than traditional methods of sleep analysis.

Keywords: Odds ratio product; Polysomnography; Sleep depth; Traffic noise; Wake propensity.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aircraft
Arousal
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Noise, Transportation* / adverse effects
Polysomnography
Sleep
Young Adult