Subjective annoyance from noise compared with some directly measurable effects.

In epidemiological investigations of annoyance it is important to search for directly measurable effects that are associated with reports of annoyance. The relationship between reported experiences of annoyance, performance on an arithmetic test, and hormonal stress reactions was studied on 100 male students during acute exposure to 85 dB (A) of traffic noise in a laboratory setting. An association was demonstrated between reported feelings of annoyance, performance efficiency, and the subjects' experience of the influence of noise on their performance. The exposure to noise was found to affect performance more negatively in the more annoyed individuals. The results indicate that the annoyance-inclined individuals in a community may constitute a special risk group that will suffer more from the adverse effects of community noise.