Noise Annoyance Is Associated with Depression and Anxiety in the General Population- The Contribution of Aircraft Noise
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155357
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Summary
This study investigates the association between noise annoyance and mental health, specifically depression and anxiety, within the general population. While noise is a recognized environmental stressor linked to cardiovascular issues, its impact on mental health has been understudied. The research aimed to determine if overall noise annoyance correlates with anxiety and depression and to identify which environmental noise sources contribute most significantly to this annoyance. The analysis utilized cross-sectional data from 15,010 participants (aged 35–74) in the Gutenberg Health Study, a population-based cohort in Mid-Germany. Noise annoyance was assessed for six sources—road traffic, aircraft, railways, industrial, and neighborhood indoor/outdoor noise—rated on a five-point scale from "not at all" to "extremely" for both daytime and sleep periods. Depression and anxiety were measured using the PHQ-9 and GAD-2 screening tools, respectively. Statistical models adjusted for sex, age, and socioeconomic status to isolate the effects of noise annoyance. The results demonstrated a strong, dose-dependent relationship between noise annoyance and mental health disorders. Mean depression and anxiety scores increased steadily with higher levels of annoyance. Compared to individuals reporting no annoyance, those with extreme annoyance had a 2.12-fold increased likelihood of depression and a 2.28-fold increased likelihood of generalized anxiety. Aircraft noise was identified as the predominant source of annoyance, affecting nearly 60% of the population to some degree and accounting for over 60% of extreme annoyance cases, significantly exceeding road traffic and other sources. The findings indicate that strong noise annoyance is associated with a two-fold higher prevalence of depression and anxiety in the general population. The magnitude of this association is comparable to the link between depression and coronary heart disease, suggesting that noise may indirectly contribute to cardiovascular disease by inducing mental health disorders. The study highlights aircraft noise as a major public health concern due to its widespread impact. While the cross-sectional design limits causal inference, the results underscore the need for prospective studies to clarify the causal pathways between noise-induced stress and mental health outcomes.
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | OpenAlex-citations | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| archive | success | unpaywall | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-26 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-26 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-20 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.
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