Changes in Cerebral Hemodynamics and Sympathetic System During a Combination of Subway Noise with Mental Activity

Subway environments such as crowd, passenger's gab, or subway-generated mechanical noise may become a potential stressor. The present study was sought to determine whether subway noise with or without mental activity affects cerebral hemodynamics and sympathetic system. Fifty-four healthy volunteers were divided group I which underwent subway noise (n=24) and group II which underwent a combined mental activity (mental arithmetic) with subway noise (n=30). Sympathetic factors such as heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP) and heart rate-systolic pressure product (RPP), and mean blood flow velocity in the middle cerebral artery (MCAV) were measured before (baseline), during and after the noise-exposure. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HR and RPP significantly increased in group II (P<0.05) but not in group I during the noise-exposure. Peak-MCAV, diastolic-MCAV and mean-MCAV in the both groups were elevated during the noise-exposure (P<0.05) and the increased ratios in group II were greater than those in group I. These results suggest that a combined mental activity with subway noise may be a stressor which affects cerebral hemodynamics and sympathetic system.