It has been theorized that stress, due to extreme annoyance from exposure over years to intense aircraft noise in residential areas, can contribute to psychosomatic health disorders. However, research data supporting such a theory have been challenged as being confounded by the unquantified influence of socioeconomic factors that may also be a source of psychological-physiological stress for people living in such noise-exposed areas. The proposed research will investigate possible relations between various socioeconomic and environmental noise factors and health disorders for the purpose of further understanding and preventing those disorders. Procedure: Preliminary analyses have been made by the principal investigator of raw data from several major studies conducted in this problem area. The results indicate that it is possible to quantify separate contributions of social and noise-exposure factors to stress-related health disorders. Multivariate analysis techniques will be used to identify, as present data permit, the contributions of various socioeconomic and environmental (aircraft noise) factors to certain stress-related psychosomatic health disorders, as distinguished from general, non-stress-related disorders. Practical Considerations: The results could serve the determination of tolerable limits for exposure to environmental noise to aid in the prevention and control of some public health disorders.
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