Effect of intermittent (traffic) noise on man--temporary threshold shift, and change in urinary 17-OHCS and saliva cortisol levels.

Eight healthy male college students were selected and eight noise exposure conditions were planned. The noise exposure time of all the experiments was 14 h. Measurement of the TTS growth at 4 kHz was investigated during these 14 h. Saliva collected every 3 h was also examined for cortisol throughout the 24-h period. The exposure noises used in this experiment were pink noise and pure tone of 3 kHz. The time patterns of trapezoidal noise were as follows. The rise and decay times were 1 s respectively and the peak level was 1 s for the (A I type), being 500 ms and 1.5 s respectively for the (A II type). Three measurements were made: 1. TTS. Under intermittent noise exposure at 80 dB(A), exposure of 20% of the on fraction induced significant TTS growth, but exposure of 13% of the on fraction did not induce TTS growth. Under exposure at 75 dB(A), exposure of 66% of the on fraction did not induce TTS growth. Under pure tone exposure of 3 kHz at 75 dB(A), exposures of 20% and 30% of the on fraction did not induce TTS growth. There was a significant difference between the TTS induced by a steady state of of 73 dB (A) (Leq of Exp. 2) and that of Exp 2. 2. Urinary 17-OHCS Level. During the noise exposure period (14h), there was a statistically significant difference between the urinary 17-OHCS level of the control condition and that of Exp. 3. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference among the urinary 17-OHCS levels of post-noise exposure. 3. Saliva Cortisol. With intermittent "pink noise" of 75 or 80 dB(A) (Exp. 2, 3, and 4), however, temporary elevation of the saliva cortisol level occurred only at the initial stage of exposure, and lasted for only one hour. Moreover, with steady state noise exposure, evanescent elevation occurred at the lower level of 71 dB(A).