Trucker protest noise may lead to 'chronic annoyance and distress'
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If you live in Centretown and feel that the constant blaring truck horns are scrambling your brain, an expert says you may be right.
Constant noise can mess with your cognitive powers, says Ingrid Johnsrude, a clinical neuropsychologist who teaches at Western University.
Noise pollution is a well-known problem in cities, she said Wednesday.
It causes “chronic annoyance and distress. In animal experiments we’ve known for a long time that loud noise is a punisher” that can be used to steer an animal’s behaviour.
But the harm goes far beyond annoyance.
Noise interferes with people’s ability to talk, especially among older people with some hearing loss.
“And (there are) sleep disturbances. For psychological health and for good cognition you have to be able to get a good night’s sleep. And if your sleep is interrupted by the noise, then your cognition is going to suffer.
“You’re going to have word-finding difficulties, you’re going to be thinking more slowly. It’s going to be harder to make decisions.”
But sleep loss isn’t the only problem.
“Cognitively, (noise) is a very potent distractor,” she said. Because it is an unpleasant stimulus, “it is just constantly tapping your cognitive resources, leaving you with fewer resources to do things.
“So there’s kind of a double whammy here. If people aren’t sleeping well, their cognition is going to be sub-optimal because they are not well-rested.
“But at the same time, that constant noise is going to be further sapping their cognitive resources, making it harder for them to think, to plan, to make decisions, to do cognitively demanding work.”
In Ottawa, people dealing with the effects of the “Freedom Convoy” protest reported noise problems on all kinds of levels, including paramedics on night shifts who have had to stay with friends or relatives because they can’t sleep downtown during the day.
People who live in high-noise neighbourhoods have, on average, more cognitive problems and show signs of being stressed, Johnsrude said. But she doesn’t think the truckers’ protest will last long enough to cause permanent problems for most.
There’s one exception: she’s pretty sure that the noise has already damaged the hearing of the truckers themselves, who are closest to it. They’ll realize the effects in a few years, she says.
A 2010 article in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health noted there are also physical effects of the stress caused by noise.
“The psychological effects of noise are usually not well characterized and often ignored. However, their effect can be equally devastating and may include hypertension, tachycardia, increased cortisol release and increased physiologic stress. Collectively, these effects can have severe adverse consequences on daily living and globally on economic production.”
(Tachycardia is a fast heartbeat. Cortisol is a hormone released when a person is under stress.)
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