Community noise annoyance risk in two surveys.

Two noise annoyance surveys were performed in Bratislava, the capital of the Slovak Republic, in a ten-year interval (1989-1999). This was a period of political and socioeconomic transformation as well as of changes in traffic management. Equivalent noise levels were assessed at the dormitory (exposed group) and in the residential areas (100 measuring stations) where another group of students (control group) lived. The mean dormitory and the mean control area equivalent noise levels increased significantly after ten years. In comparing current and previous risks of different noise exposures, the current risk was much higher for the group exposed to road traffic noise annoyance (OR = 6.01; 95% CI: 4.97-7.95 vs OR = 2.56; 95% CI: 1.93-3.42), entertainment facilities and neighborhood noise annoyance. Current road traffic noise interference with various activities (reading and mental work, personal communication, telephone communication, sleep) was also higher than previously. The students of the exposed group considered their health status in 1999 worse than ten years earlier (OR = 1.35; 95% CI: 0.99-1.83 vs OR = 0.82; 95% CI7 0.55-1.22) and they were generally taking more drugs. The comparison of two noise annoyance surveys showed that the load of community noise, especially road traffic noise as well as the subjective response to the noise, had increased in Bratislava.