Effect of Type and S/N Ratio of Combined Noise Sources on Sleep Disturbance

The World Health Organization(WHO) has reported the sleep disturbance as one of the adverse effects of noise. And the effect of combined noise sources on human have been investigated because community noises are seldom heard and are concurrent. Therefore, the effects of combined noise source and its S/N ratio on sleep disturbance were investigated; as a single noise source, road traffic noise was selected, and construction and movie noise were combined with road traffic noise. Tests for sleep disturbance were conducted in bedrooms and the effect on each subjects' sleep was evaluated by questionnaire. The results showed that the rate of awakening increased slightly only when the SPL of construction noise was 10 dB higher than that of road traffic noise. It was also found that the sleep disturbance was affected by the type of combined noise sources and its S/N ratio