Cardiovascular responses and electroencephalogram disturbances to intermittent noises: effects of nocturnal heat and daytime exposure

Summary During sleep, in thermoneutral conditions, the noise of a passing vehicle induces a biphasic cardiac response, a transient peripheral vasoconstriction and sleep disturbances. The present study was performed to determine whether or not the physiological responses were modified in a hot environment or after daytime exposure to both heat and noise. Eight young men were exposed to a nocturnal thermoneutral (20° C) or hot (35° C) environment disturbed by traffic noise. During the night, the peak intensities were of 71 dB(A) for trucks, 67 dB(A) for motorbikes and 64 dB(A) for cars. The background noise level (pink noise) was set at 30 dB(A). The noises were randomly distributed at a rate of 9·h^–1. Nights were equally preceded by day-time exposure to combined heat and noise or to no disturbance. During the day, the noises as well as the background noise levels were increased by 15 dB(A) and the rate was 48 · h^–1. Electroencephalogram (EEG) measures of sleep, electrocardiograms and finger pulse amplitudes were continuously recorded. Regardless of the day condition, when compared with undisturbed nights, the nocturnal increase in the level of heart rate induced by heat exposure disappeared when noise was added. Percentages, delays, magnitudes and costs of cardiac and vascular responses as well as EEG events such as transient activation phases (TAP) due to noise were not affected by nocturnal thermal load or by the preceding daytime exposure to disturbances. Cardiovascular responses and TAP depended on the type of traffic noise and on the sleep stage during which noise occurred: motorbike noise provoked more disturbance than car or truck noise although the latter had the largest peak intensity. The TAP induced by noise were more frequent in stage 2 sleep than in other sleep stages. Cardiovascular responses were of lower amplitude in slow wave sleep (SWS) than in stage 2 sleep or in rapid eye movements (REM) sleep. These results suggested that the deleterious effect of noise on sleep depended on the type of noise (getting-up time and spectral composition) and that SWS was the least disturbed sleep stage when compared with stage 2 and REM sleep.