Community Response to Environmental Noise

Dear Colleagues,

Sleep effect and annoyance are identified as the most severe and second-most-severe health outcomes resulting from noise exposure, according to the WHO's "Burden of Disease from Environmental Noise". The WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region, published in 2018, incorporate two noise indices: Lden and Lnight. All guideline values for Lden were derived from exposure–response relationships outlined in the WHO systematic review on annoyance. Similarly, values for Lnight were determined based on exposure–response relationships from a WHO systematic review on sleep disturbance.

For a comprehensive understanding of community responses to noise, it is essential to study not only annoyance but also activity interference, including sleep disturbance. Since the release of the WHO Guidelines, numerous studies have been conducted globally. Annoyance and activity interference caused by noise exhibit variations on hourly, yearly, and regional to global scales. Therefore, continuous accumulation of social survey data on community responses to noise is crucial for the next systematic review on a worldwide scale.

We invite the submission of studies related to community responses to environmental noise, as well as those addressing future noise policies, for publication in the Special Issue titled "Community Response to Environmental Noise" in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Prof. Dr. Takashi Yano
Dr. Shigenori Yokoshima
Dr. Mark Brink
Guest Editors

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