Relationships Between Road and Railway Noise Exposure and Self-Reported Sleep Disturbance for Detached Houses in Japan

This paper focuses on clarifying the relationship between noise exposure and the prevalence of highly sleep-disturbed (HSD) people due to road traffic and railway noise in Japan. The authors accumulated 22 datasets, which were provided by the Socio-Acoustic Survey Data Archive and derived from the other surveys conducted in Japan. All the datasets include the following micro-data: demographic factors, exposure, and sleep disturbance data associated with specific noise sources. We performed secondary analyses using the micro-data and established relationships between noise exposure (<i>L</i>_night) and the percentage of HSD people (%HSD) for road traffic, conventional railway, and Shinkansen railway noise. There were no large differences in %HSD responses between noise sources, although the response to road traffic noise was slightly higher than the responses to other noise sources. In addition, the results for road traffic noise were generally consistent with those reported in the World Health Organization guidelines and previous studies conducted in Asia. In contrast, responses to railway noise, particularly in high-exposure areas, in Japan were lower than those reported in the World Health Organization guidelines and South Korean studies.