Stress Recovery during Exposure to Nature Sound and Environmental Noise

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Jesper J Alvarsson¹  Stefan Wiens² 

[1] Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden;

关键词: soundscape;    nature sounds;    environmental noise;    skin conductance level;    heart rate variability;    stress recovery;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph7031036

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Research suggests that visual impressions of natural compared with urban environments facilitate recovery after psychological stress. To test whether auditory stimulation has similar effects, 40 subjects were exposed to sounds from nature or noisy environments after a stressful mental arithmetic task. Skin conductance level (SCL) was used to index sympathetic activation, and high frequency heart rate variability (HF HRV) was used to index parasympathetic activation. Although HF HRV showed no effects, SCL recovery tended to be faster during natural sound than noisy environments. These results suggest that nature sounds facilitate recovery from sympathetic activation after a psychological stressor.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2010 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.