A questionnaire-based study was performed in an area of about 16 ha ne
ar a main road in Tokyo to elucidate any relations between road traffi
c noise and the effects of this noise among women living on both sides
of the road. Questions concerned annoyance, sleep disturbance, interf
erence with daily activities, health-related symptoms and disease hist
ories. 366 inhabitants were analyzed. Dose-response relationships were
found in high reported responses to noisiness, annoyance, dissatisfac
tion with the nearby environment and interference with listening to TV
, conversation and reading. It was also found that the number of high
responses to questions increased clearly at noise levels above 70 dB(A
), L-eq(24h), with regard to interference with thinking and sleep dist
urbance (waking during the night), fatigue, headache, gastroenteric di
sorders, loss of appetite, depression and irritation. Furthermore, the
re was an increase in reports of disease histories with noise above 70
dB(A) for climacteric disturbance, and at noise above 65 dB(A) for de
afness, heart disease and hypercholesterolemia. These all suggest that
noise may be related to the health status of inhabitants living in ar
eas with heavy road traffic. A noise level of 65 dB(A) or 70 dB(A) in
L-eq(24h) was the critical point above which respondents indicated inc
reased effects on health and reports of disease increased. (C) 1997 Ac
ademic Press Limited.