The experience of using a sociological survey to assess the perception of odour and noise by the population

Introduction. Sensory environmental factors, such as the odour of emissions from various enterprises and noise, are becoming increasingly relevant in connection with the development of industry and urban highways. This is due to their impact on the psychosomatic health of people living in areas where sources of odour and noise pollution of atmospheric air are located.

The aim of the study — to evaluate the relationship between the perception of odours present in atmospheric air and noise with the subjective assessment of health status in the population of an industrial city.

Materials and methods. The data were obtained as a result of a survey of seven hundred nineteen residents of the city with a population of about 90 thousand people, conducted over 2022. The questionnaire included questions to assess the frequency, intensity of perception of odours and noise, as well as the degree of annoyance by these factors. To study the health status of the respondents, it was suggested to note their health complaints.

Results. The study identified symptoms associated with odour and noise perception such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, annoyance, and others. These symptoms are similar for odour and noise perception.

Limitations of the study are related to a relatively small sample of interviewees, and a limited number of questions that allow assessing the relationship between the effects of the studied factors and the public health as well as the lack of data characterizing the full composition of emissions from all enterprises in the city.

Conclusion. Factors of different nature — atmospheric odours and noise, affecting various analyzers and triggering biological processes in the body, lead to similar effects through the induction of annoyance. Stress caused by annoyance by odours and noise causes a number of symptoms and diseases and, in turn, affects the work of analyzers responsible for the perception of environmental factors.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study was approved at a meeting of the Centre for Strategic Planning of the Federal medical and biological agency (protocol No. 01/10/21 dated 10/25/2021).

Contributions:
Goshin M.E — concept and design of the study, literature review, collection and processing of material, analysis and interpretation of results, writing the text;
Sabirova Z.F. —  analysis and interpretation of results, editing;
Budarina O.V. — research concept, editing.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement. The study was carried out within the framework of state task No. № АААА-А20-120101690059-2.

Received: July 11, 2024 / Revised: September 2, 2024 / Accepted: October 2, 2024 / Published: November 19, 2024

1. Bax C., Sironi S., Capelli L. How can odors be measured? An overview of methods and their applications. Atmosphere. 2020; 11(1): 92. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11010092

2. Brancher M., Knauder W., Piringer M., Schauberger G. Temporal variability in odour emissions: to what extent this matters for the assessment of annoyance using dispersion modelling. Atmos Environ. X. 2020; 5: 100054. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2019.100054

3. Dalton P. Odor, irritation and perception of health risk. Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health. 2002; 75(5): 283–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-002-0312-x

4. Sucker K., Both R., Winneke G. Review of adverse health effects of odours in field studies. Water Sci. Technol. 2009; 59(7): 1281–9. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2009.113

5. Guadalupe-Fernandez V., Sario M., Vecchi S., Michelozzi P., Davoli M., Ancona C. Industrial odour pollution and human health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Environ. Health. 2021; 20(1): 108. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-021-00774-3

6. Sazakli E., Leotsinidis M. Odor nuisance and health risk assessment of VOC emissions from a rendering plant. Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health. 2021; 14(3): 301–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-020-00935-2

7. Mehta A.J., Kubzansky L.D., Coull B.A., Kloog I., Koutrakis P., Sparrow D., et al. Associations between air pollution and perceived stress: the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study. Environ. Health. 2015; 14: 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069x-14-10

8. Hoenen M., Wolf O.T., Pause B.M. The impact of stress on odor perception. Perception. 2017; 46(3–4): 366–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006616688707

9. Goshin M.E., Ingel F.I., Budarina O.V. Odours in the atmospheric air: the correlation between the occurrence of stress and diseases of the adult population. In: Sysin Readings – 2021. Proceedings of the II National Congress with international participation on Human Ecology, Hygiene and Environmental Medicine [Sysinskie Chteniya – 2021. Materialy II Natsional’nogo kongressa s mezhdunarodnym uchastiem po ekologii cheloveka, gigiene i meditsine okruzhayushchei sredy]. Moscow; 2021: 119–23. https://elibrary.ru/khtykj (in Russian)

10. Stansfeld S.A. Noise effects on health in the context of air pollution exposure. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2015; 12(10): 12735–60. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph121012735

11. Bonnefoy X., Braubach M., Krapavickaite D., Ormandy D., Zurlyte I. Housing conditions and self-reported health status: A study in panel block buildings in three cities of Eastern Europe. J. Hous. Built Environ. 2003; 18(4): 329–352. https://elibrary.ru/evfkjd

12. Basner M., Babisch W., Davis A., Brink M., Clark C., Janssen S., et al. Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health. Lancet. 2014; 383(9925): 1325–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(13)61613-x

13. WHO. Burden of disease from environmental noise. quantification of healthy life years lost in Europe. Geneva; 2011.

14. Shepherd D., Dirks K., Welch D., McBride D., Landon J. The covariance between air pollution annoyance and noise annoyance, and its relationship with health-related quality of life. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2016; 13(8): 792. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13080792

15. Kaltenbach M., Maschke C., Heb F., Niemann H., Führ M. Health impairments, annoyance and learning disorders caused by aircraft noise. Int. J. Environ. Protect. 2016; 6(1): 15–46. https://doi.org/10.5963/IJEP0601003

16. Stansfeld S.A. Noise effects on health in the context of air pollution exposure. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2015; 12(10): 12735–60. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph121012735

17. Shepherd D., Welch D., Dirks K.N., Mathews R. Exploring the relationship between noise sensitivity, annoyance and health-related quality of life in a sample of adults exposed to environmental noise. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2010; 7(10): 3579–94. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph7103580

18. Kampa M., Castanas E. Human health effects of air pollution. Environ. Pollut. 2008; 151(2): 362–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2007.06.012

19. WHO. Health and the Environment in the Who European Region: Creating Resilient Communities and Supportive Environments. Geneva; 2013.

20. WHO. Basic Documents 1948. Geneva; 1948.

21. Oiamo T.H., Luginaah I.N., Baxter J. Cumulative effects of noise and odour annoyances on environmental and health related quality of life. Soc. Sci. Med. 2015; 146: 191–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.10.043

22. Tonne C., Halonen J.I., Beevers S.D., Dajnak D., Gulliver J., Kelly F.J., et al. Long-term traffic air and noise pollution in relation to mortality and hospital readmission among myocardial infarction survivors. Int. J. Hyg. Environ. Health. 2016; 219(1): 72–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2015.09.003

23. Gan W.Q., McLean K., Brauer M., Chiarello S.A., Davies H.W. Modeling population exposure to community noise and air pollution in a large metropolitan area. Environ. Res. 2012; 116: 11–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.04.001

24. Münzel T., Gori T., Babisch W., Basner M. Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise exposure. Eur. Heart J. 2014; 35(13): 829–36. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehu030

25. Goshin M.E., Budarina O.V., Ingel F.I. The odours in the ambient air: analysis of the relationship with the state of health and quality of life in adults residing in the town with food industries. Gigiena i Sanitaria (Hygiene and Sanitation, Russian journal). 2020; 99(12): 1339–45. https://doi.org/10.47470/0016-9900-2020-99-12-1339-1345 https://elibrary.ru/hntnez (in Russian)