Road Noise and Hypertension: People living in homes exposed to high levels of road-traffic noise were more likely to report having hypertension, according to a study in Environmental Health. The researchers used maps and traffic data to estimate the noise levels for the addresses of more than 24,000 Swedish subjects. They found that people exposed to an average traffic-noise level above 64 decibels （slightly louder than a normal conversation） were 52% more likely than people exposed to 45 decibels of road noise to report having high blood pressure, a key risk factor for heart disease, after controlling for age, socioeconomic status, and other variables. Exposure to road noise between 60 decibels and 64 decibels was associated with a risk of hypertension 15% above the minimally exposed group. Previous studies have hypothesized that noise exposure could cause hypertension by persistently elevating the body's level of stress hormones.

    Caveat: The researchers couldn't account for the presence of noise barriers or the floor level on which the subjects lived, factors that would influence traffic-noise exposure. Previous studies have found a large discrepancy between self-reported hypertension and actual clinical diagnoses.

    道路噪音與高血壓：根據(jù)《環(huán)境健康》（Environmental Health）的一項研究，在交通噪音水平較高的房屋中居住的人出現(xiàn)高血壓的可能性更大。研究人員使用地圖和交通數(shù)據(jù)對瑞典24,000多人的住所噪音進行了估算。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在排除了年齡、社會經(jīng)濟地位和其它變量的情況下，身處平均交通噪音水平64分貝（比正常談話略高）以上的人群出現(xiàn)高血壓的可能性比道路噪音45分貝中的人群高出了52%.高血壓是心臟病的一項主要風險因子。如果暴露在60至64分貝的道路噪音中，出現(xiàn)高血壓的風險比最小暴露組要高出15%.以前的研究推測，暴露在噪音中可能會因持續(xù)提高人體應激激素水平而引發(fā)高血壓。

    注意：研究人員并未考慮研究對象所居住環(huán)境中是否有隔音屏障以及居住樓層的差別，這些因素會影響暴露在交通噪音中的水平。以前的研究已發(fā)現(xiàn)，自己報告的高血壓與實際臨床診斷之間存在很大差異。