White Noise and Its Potential Applications in Occupational Health: A Review
Abstract
Background: White noise (WN), because of its unique behavior and characteristics, has different applications in different sciences. Nevertheless, the results of studies and reviews of the literature on occupational safety and health found that this type of noise is often used as a noise source to assess the effects of hearing and its physical characteristics. Its possible applications in this area have not received as much attention. The present review study aimed to answer the question, "Can WN be used as a means of promoting occupational safety and health at the workplace?".
Methods: In this review, we reviewed the articles published in reputable databases from 1990 to 2020. Our study included 33 articles from 120 that were searched in full text and followed the inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Results: Various applications were examined, including noise masking, white noise therapy, cognitive functions, and sleep. WN can enhance the work environment and meet occupational safety and health objectives based on the study's results. The results of this study will provide a basis for continuing research into the use of WN in the workplace as an engineering and management control method.
Conclusion: WN is being used in various fields that may hold promise for its application in occupational health sciences and maintaining the well-being of workplace workers.
1. Azizi A, Ghafoorpoor Yazdi P, Ghafoorpoor Yazdi P (2019). Introduction to Noise and its Applications. Computer-Based Analysis of the Stochastic Stability of Mechanical Structures Driven by White and Colored Noise (Chapter2). ed.
2. Castro J (2013). What Is Pink Noise? https://www.livescience.com/38464-what-is-pink-noise.html
3. Krishnan S, Leech R, Aydelott J, Dick F (2013). School-age children's environmental object identification in natural auditory scenes: Effects ofmasking and contextual congruence. Hear Res, 300:46-55.
4. Yang M, De Coensel B, Kang J (2015). Presence of 1/f noise in the temporal structure of psychoacoustic parameters of natural and urban sounds. J Acoust Soc Am, 138(2):916-27.
5. Benjafield JG (2017). Between pink noise and white noise: A digital history of The American Journal of Psychology and Psychological Review. Am J Psychol, 130:505-519.
6. Gelfand S, Levitt H (2004). Hearing—an introduction to psychological and physiological acoustics Marcel Dekker. New York.[Google Scholar].
7. Lotfi M, Monazzam-Esmaielpour MR, Mansouri N, Ahmadi S (2018). Investigating noise pollution induced by diesel generators in building construction activities in one of the district of Tehran city. J Health Saf Work, 8(2):149-162. [Persian].
8. Monazzam-Esmaielpour MR, Zakerian SA, Kazemi Z, et al (2019). Investigation of occupational noise annoyance in a wind turbine power plant. Journal of Low Frequency Noise Vibration and Active Control, 38:798-807.
9. Jabbari K, Nassiri P, Monazzam-Esmaeelpour MR, et al (2016). The Relationship between Occupational Noise Exposure and Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) in Small-Scale Industries: A Case Study in the City of Damavand, Iran. Biotech Health Sci, 3(4): e40735.
10. Nassiri P, Zare S, Monazzam-Esmaeelpour MR, et al (2017). Assessment of the Effects of Different Sound Pressure Levels on Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAEs) in Rats. Int J Occup Hyg, 8:93-99.
11. Nassiri P, Zare S, Monazzam MR, et al (2017). Evaluation of the effects of various sound pressure levels on the level of serum aldosterone concentration in rats. Noise Health, 19(89):200-206.
12. Angwin AJ, Wilson WJ, Copland DA, et al (2018). The impact of auditory white noise on semantic priming. Brain Lang, 180-182:1-7.
13. Söderlund GB, Björk C, Gustafsson P(2016).Comparing auditory noise treatment with stimulant medication on cognitive task performance in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: results from a pilot study. Front Psychol, 7:1331.
14. Farokhnezhad-Afshar P, Khajali Z, Azarfarin R, Mahmoudi A (2015). Effect of white noise on depression in patients admitted to the cardiac care unit. Cardiovascular Nursing Journal, 4:32-39. [Persian].
15. Vicente-Torres MA, Muñoz E, Dávila D, Gil-Loyzaga P (2001). Changes in the cochlear dopaminergic system of the aged rat. Brain Res, 917:112-117.
16. Speechley WJ, Hogsden JL, Dringenberg HC (2007). Continuous white noise exposure during and after auditory critical period differentially alters bidirectional thalamocortical plasticity in rat auditory cortex in vivo. Eur J Neurosci, 26:2576-2584.
17. Spencer J, Moran D, Lee A, Talbert D (1990). White noise and sleep induction. Arch Dis Child, 65:135-137.
18. Cautilli J (2005). Brief report: Use of an antecedent procedure to decrease night awakening in an infant: A replication. J Early Intensive Behav Interv, 2:9.
19. Forquer LM, Johnson CM (2005). Continuous white noise to reduce resistance going to sleep and night wakings in toddlers. Child Fam Behav Ther, 27:1-10.
20. Knight RM, Johnson CM (2014). Using a behavioral treatment package for sleep problems in children with autism spectrum disorders. Child Fam Behav Ther, 36:204-221.
21. Stanchina ML, Abu-Hijleh M, Chaudhry BK, Carlisle CC, Millman RP (2005). The influence of white noiseon sleep in subjects exposed to ICU noise. Sleep Med, 6:423-428.
22. Salo SK, Lang AH, Salmivalli AJ (1995). Effect of contralateral white noise masking on the mismatch negativity. Scand Audiol, 24:165-173.
23. Schaette R, Kempter R (2012). Computationalmodels of neurophysiological correlates of tinnitus. Front Syst Neurosci, 6:34.
24. Suzuki FAdB, Suzuki FA, Onishi ET, Penido NO (2018). Psychoacoustic classification of persistent tinnitus. Braz J Otorhinolaryngol, 84:583-590.
25. Angwin AJ, Wilson WJ, Arnott WL, et al (2017). White noise enhances new-word learning in healthy adults. Sci Rep, 7: 13045.
26. Banaeezadeh S, Atash afrouz A, Maktabi G(2020). The effectiveness of white noise on learning new words, visual working memory and selective attention in elementary students. JPS,19(85):25-32. [Persian].
27. Helps SK, Bamford S, Sonuga-Barke EJ, Söderlund GB (2014). Different effects of adding white noise on cognitive performance of sub-, normal and super-attentive school children. PLoS One, 9(11):e112768.
28. Rausch VH, Bauch EM, Bunzeck N (2014). White noise improves learning by modulating activity in dopaminergic midbrain regions and right superior temporal sulcus. J Cogn Neurosci, 26:1469-1480.
29. Carlson S, Rämä P, Artchakov D, Linnankoski I (1997). Effects of music and white noise on working memory performance in monkeys. Neuroreport, 8:2853-2856.
30. Söderlund GB, Sikström S, Smart A (2007). Listen to the noise: noise is beneficial for cognitive performancein ADHD. J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 48:840-847.
31. Cook A, Johnson C, Bradley-Johnson S (2015). White noise to decrease problem behaviors in the classroom for a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Child Fam Behav Ther, 37:38-50.
32. Allen R, Pammer K (2018). The impact of concurrent noise on visual search in children with ADHD. J Atten Disord, 22:1344-1353.
33. Pickens TA, Khan SP, Berlau DJ (2019). White noise as a possible therapeutic option forchildren with ADHD. Complement Ther Med, 42:151-155.
34. Harrison DW, Kelly PL (1989). Age differences in cardiovascular and cognitive performance under noise conditions. Percept Mot Skills, 69:547-554.
35. Baker MA, Holding DH (1993). The effects of noise and speech on cognitive task performance. J Gen Psychol, 120:339-355.
36. Amir N, McNally RJ, Riemann BC, Clements C (1996). Implicit memory bias for threat in panic disorder: Application of the ‘white noise’paradigm. Behav Res Ther, 34(2):157-62.
37. Söderlund GB, Sikström S, Loftesnes JM, Sonuga-Barke EJ (2010). The effects of background white noise on memory performance in inattentive school children. Behav Brain Funct, 6:55.
38. Herweg NA, Bunzeck N (2015). Differential effects of white noise in cognitive and perceptual tasks. Front Psychol, 6:1639.
39. Cook A, Bradley‐Johnson S, Johnson CM (2014). Effects of white noise on off‐task behavior and academic responding for children with ADHD. J Appl Behav Anal, 47:160-164.
40. Batho LP, Martinussen R, Wiener J (2020). The effects of different types of environmental noise on academic performance and perceived task difficulty in adolescents with ADHD. J Atten Disord, 24:1181-1191.
41. Baijot S, Slama H, Söderlund GB, et al (2016). Neuropsychological and neurophysiological benefits from white noise in children with and without ADHD. Behav Brain Funct, 12:11.
42. Söderlund GB, Jobs EN (2016). Differences in speech recognition between children with attention deficits and typically developed children disappear when exposed to 65 dB of auditory noise. Front Psychol, 7:34.
43. Karakoç A, Türker F (2014). Effects of white noise and holding on pain perception in newborns. Pain Manag Nurs, 15:864-870.
44. Akca K, Aytekin A (2014). Effect of soothing noise on sucking success of newborns. Breastfeed Med, 9:538-542.
45. Kaneko Y, Butler JP, Saitoh E, et al (2013). Efficacy of white noise therapy for dementia patients with schizophrenia. Geriatr Gerontol Int, 13:808-810.
46. Burgio L, Scilley K, Hardin JM, Hsu C, Yancey J (1996). Environmental “white noise”: An intervention for verbally agitated nursing home residents. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, 51:P364-P373.
47. Ilkkaya NK, Ustun FE, Sener EB, et al (2014). The effects of music, white noise, and ambient noise on sedation and anxiety inpatients under spinal anesthesia during surgery. J Perianesth Nurs, 29:418-426.
48. Farokhnezhad Afshar P, Mahmoudi A, Abdi A (2016). The effect of white noise on the vital signs of elderly patients admitted to the cardiac care unit. J Gerontol, 1(1):11-18. [Persian].
49. Kucukoglu S, Aytekin A, Celebioglu A, et al (2016). Effect of white noise in relieving vaccination pain in premature infants. Pain Manag Nurs, 17:392-400.
50. Shabanian Z, Gholipour M, Mirzaei M, et al (2021). Investigating shift work disorder among workers of Hamadan Glass Factory in 2017. Tibbi-i-kar, 12 (4) :24-34.[Persian].
51. Searchfield G, Kobayashi K, Sanders M (2012). An adaptation level theory of tinnitus audibility. Front Syst Neurosci, 6:46.
52. Björn OH, Hofman-bang D, Philipsson M, et al (2019). Method and apparatus for controlling a hearing instrument to relieve tinitus, hyperacusis, and hearing loss. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20140044289
2. Castro J (2013). What Is Pink Noise? https://www.livescience.com/38464-what-is-pink-noise.html
3. Krishnan S, Leech R, Aydelott J, Dick F (2013). School-age children's environmental object identification in natural auditory scenes: Effects ofmasking and contextual congruence. Hear Res, 300:46-55.
4. Yang M, De Coensel B, Kang J (2015). Presence of 1/f noise in the temporal structure of psychoacoustic parameters of natural and urban sounds. J Acoust Soc Am, 138(2):916-27.
5. Benjafield JG (2017). Between pink noise and white noise: A digital history of The American Journal of Psychology and Psychological Review. Am J Psychol, 130:505-519.
6. Gelfand S, Levitt H (2004). Hearing—an introduction to psychological and physiological acoustics Marcel Dekker. New York.[Google Scholar].
7. Lotfi M, Monazzam-Esmaielpour MR, Mansouri N, Ahmadi S (2018). Investigating noise pollution induced by diesel generators in building construction activities in one of the district of Tehran city. J Health Saf Work, 8(2):149-162. [Persian].
8. Monazzam-Esmaielpour MR, Zakerian SA, Kazemi Z, et al (2019). Investigation of occupational noise annoyance in a wind turbine power plant. Journal of Low Frequency Noise Vibration and Active Control, 38:798-807.
9. Jabbari K, Nassiri P, Monazzam-Esmaeelpour MR, et al (2016). The Relationship between Occupational Noise Exposure and Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) in Small-Scale Industries: A Case Study in the City of Damavand, Iran. Biotech Health Sci, 3(4): e40735.
10. Nassiri P, Zare S, Monazzam-Esmaeelpour MR, et al (2017). Assessment of the Effects of Different Sound Pressure Levels on Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAEs) in Rats. Int J Occup Hyg, 8:93-99.
11. Nassiri P, Zare S, Monazzam MR, et al (2017). Evaluation of the effects of various sound pressure levels on the level of serum aldosterone concentration in rats. Noise Health, 19(89):200-206.
12. Angwin AJ, Wilson WJ, Copland DA, et al (2018). The impact of auditory white noise on semantic priming. Brain Lang, 180-182:1-7.
13. Söderlund GB, Björk C, Gustafsson P(2016).Comparing auditory noise treatment with stimulant medication on cognitive task performance in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: results from a pilot study. Front Psychol, 7:1331.
14. Farokhnezhad-Afshar P, Khajali Z, Azarfarin R, Mahmoudi A (2015). Effect of white noise on depression in patients admitted to the cardiac care unit. Cardiovascular Nursing Journal, 4:32-39. [Persian].
15. Vicente-Torres MA, Muñoz E, Dávila D, Gil-Loyzaga P (2001). Changes in the cochlear dopaminergic system of the aged rat. Brain Res, 917:112-117.
16. Speechley WJ, Hogsden JL, Dringenberg HC (2007). Continuous white noise exposure during and after auditory critical period differentially alters bidirectional thalamocortical plasticity in rat auditory cortex in vivo. Eur J Neurosci, 26:2576-2584.
17. Spencer J, Moran D, Lee A, Talbert D (1990). White noise and sleep induction. Arch Dis Child, 65:135-137.
18. Cautilli J (2005). Brief report: Use of an antecedent procedure to decrease night awakening in an infant: A replication. J Early Intensive Behav Interv, 2:9.
19. Forquer LM, Johnson CM (2005). Continuous white noise to reduce resistance going to sleep and night wakings in toddlers. Child Fam Behav Ther, 27:1-10.
20. Knight RM, Johnson CM (2014). Using a behavioral treatment package for sleep problems in children with autism spectrum disorders. Child Fam Behav Ther, 36:204-221.
21. Stanchina ML, Abu-Hijleh M, Chaudhry BK, Carlisle CC, Millman RP (2005). The influence of white noiseon sleep in subjects exposed to ICU noise. Sleep Med, 6:423-428.
22. Salo SK, Lang AH, Salmivalli AJ (1995). Effect of contralateral white noise masking on the mismatch negativity. Scand Audiol, 24:165-173.
23. Schaette R, Kempter R (2012). Computationalmodels of neurophysiological correlates of tinnitus. Front Syst Neurosci, 6:34.
24. Suzuki FAdB, Suzuki FA, Onishi ET, Penido NO (2018). Psychoacoustic classification of persistent tinnitus. Braz J Otorhinolaryngol, 84:583-590.
25. Angwin AJ, Wilson WJ, Arnott WL, et al (2017). White noise enhances new-word learning in healthy adults. Sci Rep, 7: 13045.
26. Banaeezadeh S, Atash afrouz A, Maktabi G(2020). The effectiveness of white noise on learning new words, visual working memory and selective attention in elementary students. JPS,19(85):25-32. [Persian].
27. Helps SK, Bamford S, Sonuga-Barke EJ, Söderlund GB (2014). Different effects of adding white noise on cognitive performance of sub-, normal and super-attentive school children. PLoS One, 9(11):e112768.
28. Rausch VH, Bauch EM, Bunzeck N (2014). White noise improves learning by modulating activity in dopaminergic midbrain regions and right superior temporal sulcus. J Cogn Neurosci, 26:1469-1480.
29. Carlson S, Rämä P, Artchakov D, Linnankoski I (1997). Effects of music and white noise on working memory performance in monkeys. Neuroreport, 8:2853-2856.
30. Söderlund GB, Sikström S, Smart A (2007). Listen to the noise: noise is beneficial for cognitive performancein ADHD. J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 48:840-847.
31. Cook A, Johnson C, Bradley-Johnson S (2015). White noise to decrease problem behaviors in the classroom for a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Child Fam Behav Ther, 37:38-50.
32. Allen R, Pammer K (2018). The impact of concurrent noise on visual search in children with ADHD. J Atten Disord, 22:1344-1353.
33. Pickens TA, Khan SP, Berlau DJ (2019). White noise as a possible therapeutic option forchildren with ADHD. Complement Ther Med, 42:151-155.
34. Harrison DW, Kelly PL (1989). Age differences in cardiovascular and cognitive performance under noise conditions. Percept Mot Skills, 69:547-554.
35. Baker MA, Holding DH (1993). The effects of noise and speech on cognitive task performance. J Gen Psychol, 120:339-355.
36. Amir N, McNally RJ, Riemann BC, Clements C (1996). Implicit memory bias for threat in panic disorder: Application of the ‘white noise’paradigm. Behav Res Ther, 34(2):157-62.
37. Söderlund GB, Sikström S, Loftesnes JM, Sonuga-Barke EJ (2010). The effects of background white noise on memory performance in inattentive school children. Behav Brain Funct, 6:55.
38. Herweg NA, Bunzeck N (2015). Differential effects of white noise in cognitive and perceptual tasks. Front Psychol, 6:1639.
39. Cook A, Bradley‐Johnson S, Johnson CM (2014). Effects of white noise on off‐task behavior and academic responding for children with ADHD. J Appl Behav Anal, 47:160-164.
40. Batho LP, Martinussen R, Wiener J (2020). The effects of different types of environmental noise on academic performance and perceived task difficulty in adolescents with ADHD. J Atten Disord, 24:1181-1191.
41. Baijot S, Slama H, Söderlund GB, et al (2016). Neuropsychological and neurophysiological benefits from white noise in children with and without ADHD. Behav Brain Funct, 12:11.
42. Söderlund GB, Jobs EN (2016). Differences in speech recognition between children with attention deficits and typically developed children disappear when exposed to 65 dB of auditory noise. Front Psychol, 7:34.
43. Karakoç A, Türker F (2014). Effects of white noise and holding on pain perception in newborns. Pain Manag Nurs, 15:864-870.
44. Akca K, Aytekin A (2014). Effect of soothing noise on sucking success of newborns. Breastfeed Med, 9:538-542.
45. Kaneko Y, Butler JP, Saitoh E, et al (2013). Efficacy of white noise therapy for dementia patients with schizophrenia. Geriatr Gerontol Int, 13:808-810.
46. Burgio L, Scilley K, Hardin JM, Hsu C, Yancey J (1996). Environmental “white noise”: An intervention for verbally agitated nursing home residents. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, 51:P364-P373.
47. Ilkkaya NK, Ustun FE, Sener EB, et al (2014). The effects of music, white noise, and ambient noise on sedation and anxiety inpatients under spinal anesthesia during surgery. J Perianesth Nurs, 29:418-426.
48. Farokhnezhad Afshar P, Mahmoudi A, Abdi A (2016). The effect of white noise on the vital signs of elderly patients admitted to the cardiac care unit. J Gerontol, 1(1):11-18. [Persian].
49. Kucukoglu S, Aytekin A, Celebioglu A, et al (2016). Effect of white noise in relieving vaccination pain in premature infants. Pain Manag Nurs, 17:392-400.
50. Shabanian Z, Gholipour M, Mirzaei M, et al (2021). Investigating shift work disorder among workers of Hamadan Glass Factory in 2017. Tibbi-i-kar, 12 (4) :24-34.[Persian].
51. Searchfield G, Kobayashi K, Sanders M (2012). An adaptation level theory of tinnitus audibility. Front Syst Neurosci, 6:46.
52. Björn OH, Hofman-bang D, Philipsson M, et al (2019). Method and apparatus for controlling a hearing instrument to relieve tinitus, hyperacusis, and hearing loss. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20140044289
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 52 No 3 (2023) | |
| Section | Review Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/ijph.v52i3.12132 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Occupational Health Safety White noise Workplace improvement | ||
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
How to Cite
1.
Ghasemi S, Fasih-Ramandi F, Monazzam MR, Khodakarim S. White Noise and Its Potential Applications in Occupational Health: A Review. Iran J Public Health. 2023;52(3):488-499.
