Aircraft Noise Exposure and Subjective Sleep Quality: The Results of the DEBATS Study in France

ABSTRACT

Background: Exposure to aircraft noise has been shown to have adverse effects on health, particularly on sleep. Exposure to nighttime aircraft noise clearly affects sleep architecture, as well as subjective sleep quality. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between aircraft noise exposure and subjective sleep quality in the population living near airports in France. Methods: A total of 1,244 individuals older than 18 and living near three French airports (Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, and Toulouse-Blagnac) were randomly selected to participate in the study. Information on sleep as well as health, socioeconomic, and lifestyle factors was collected by means of a face-to-face questionnaire performed at their place of residence by an interviewer. For each participant, aircraft noise exposure was estimated at home using noise maps. Logistic regression models were used with adjustment for potential confounders. Results: Aircraft noise exposure was significantly associated with a short total sleep time (TST; ≤ 6 h) and with the feeling of tiredness while awakening in the morning. An increase of 10 dB(A) in aircraft noise level at night was associated with an OR of 1.63 (95% CI: 1.15–2.32) for a short TST and an OR of 1.23 (95% CI: 1.00–1.54) for the feeling of tiredness while awakening in the morning. Conclusions: These findings contribute to the overall evidence suggesting that aircraft noise exposure at nighttime may decrease the subjective amount and quality of sleep.

Acknowledgments

The Airport Pollution Control Authority (Acnusa) requested that the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development, and Networks (IFSTTAR) carry out this study. The authors would like to thank them for their confidence.

The authors are grateful to all the participants in the study.

The authors also thank Paris Airports and the French Civil Aviation Authority for providing noise exposure maps, and are grateful to Inès Khati for her participation in the implementation of the study.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

The present study was supported by funds from the French Ministry of Health, the French Ministry of Environment, and the French Civil Aviation Authority. We would like to thank them for their kind assistance.