The neurophysiology of noise and health: Established and emerging neural networks

Abstract

There is strong evidence for the increased risk of ischemic heart disease from excessive noise, but evidence also supports effects on other health outcomes such as stroke and diabetes and more generally suggests that excessive noise exposures can interfere with the homeostatic function of several physiological systems (e.g., cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune). This exposure stress-response mechanism is commonly dichotomized as direct through sleep disturbance or indirect through some form of cognitive processing due to disturbance or annoyance. In either case, chronic activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stress axis provides a mechanistic link between exposure and systemic stress, but there is a limited understanding of how other structures in the limbic system are involved, and consequently a limited understanding of how noise is processed and appraised among other sensory inputs and as a subjective experience. This is furthermore limited by exposure estimation methods and defining the acoustic and built environments that people experience. This paper provides a review of systemic stress activation in the context of emerging knowledge on sensory processing within the limbic system and highlights recent research on effects of sound and noise on mental health and cognition that are advancing our understanding of noise effects on health.