Speaker
Description
Noise annoyance drives the sustained activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, resulting in the release of catecholamines and cortisol. Chronic neuroendocrine activation can lead to a pathophysiological cascade characterized by systemic and neural inflammation, oxidative stress, and structural brain changes, favoring the development of endothelial dysfunction, maladaptive coping mechanisms, and mental health outcomes. Identifying interventions capable of mitigating noise annoyance and stress is, therefore, critical to safeguard the health of noise-exposed populations. Environments with abundant natural sound sources (biophony and geophony) offer a potential psycho-physiological buffer against these impacts. Birdsong, in particular, improves perceived soundscape quality, elicits positive affective responses, and promotes perceived restoration and relaxation. When presented alongside road traffic noise, birdsong reduces participants' perceived loudness and noise annoyance, possibly through a combination of informational masking and stress reduction. The effects of birdsong on aircraft noise annoyance and noise-induced stress, however, remain unexplored. In a within-subject listening experiment, participants will be exposed to two binaural audio recordings containing eight aircraft flyovers at 65 dB(A), with and without birdsong, at 48dB(A). Participant physiological arousal levels will be continuously measured using electrodermal activity (event-related SCR), pupillometry (event-related dilation), and respiration rate (RR). Following each condition, participants will report their soundscape appraisal (ISO-12913-2), aircraft noise annoyance (ISO-TS-15666), affective states (valence & arousal), perceived restoration (PRSS), and hypothetical behavior. Combining perceptual and physiological measurements, this study will empirically test the effectiveness of increasing birdsong as a mitigation strategy for aircraft noise annoyance and noise-induced stress in airport-adjacent communities.