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Ear, nose and throat/otolaryngology
Research
Effect of noise tolerance on non-restorative sleep: a population-based study in Hong Kong
  1. Daniel Y T Fong1,
  2. Janet Y H Wong1,
  3. Lixi Huang2
  1. 1 School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
  2. 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
  1. Correspondence to Dr Daniel Y T Fong; dytfong{at}hku.hk

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to assess the impact of auditory noise tolerance on non-restorative sleep using an objective audiometric test in a representative sample.

Design A total of 202 Chinese individuals aged 15 years and above were recruited from a population-based household survey. Their non-restorative sleep was assessed by a single item, the degree of feeling refreshed on waking up, on a 0–10 scale, while noise tolerance was measured by the most comfortable level expressed in A-weighted decibels.

Results The 202 individuals (106 women) had a mean degree of feeling refreshed on waking up of 6.5 on the 0–10 scale and a mean maximum comfortable sound level of 69.2 dB. A multivariable analysis showed that a 1 dB increase in noise tolerance was associated with a 0.1-unit increase in the degree of feeling refreshed after adjusting for age, education, marital status, occupation, exercise, smoking, alcohol consumption, household noise level, stress, anxiety and depression. Moreover, housewives, non-smokers and individuals who were less anxious or stressed felt significantly more refreshed on waking up.

Conclusion People with higher levels of noise tolerance experienced more refreshing sleep. Additional clinical consideration of enhancing noise tolerance in patients with sleep complaints is needed.

  • maximum comfortable level
  • noise tolerance
  • non-restorative sleep

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020518

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors All authors were involved in the conception and design of research, edited and revised the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript. DYTF and JYHW conducted data collection and analysis. DYTF drafted the manuscript.

    • Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Ethics approval Institutional Review Board of the University of Hong Kong/Hospital Authority Hong Kong West Cluster.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement No additional data are available.