Journal article
Using mindfulness to reduce the health effects of community reaction to aircraft noise
Noise & Health, Vol.19(89), pp.165-173
2017
Abstract
This paper investigates whether mindfulness-based interventions might ameliorate the detrimental health effects of aircraft noise on residential communities. Review: Numerous empirical studies over the past 50 years have demonstrated the increasing negative impact of aircraft noise on residents worldwide. However, extensive database searches have revealed no published studies on psychological interventions that reduce residents' reactivity to environmental noise. By contrast, there has been extensive research over several decades confirming the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction training in lowering people's stress from work and life. Considering that stress is a major component of aircraft noise reaction, it would seem worth assessing whether mindfulness-based interventions might be effective in reducing the health effects of aircraft noise. It appears that no existing conceptualization of mindfulness specifically accounts for noise as a stressor. Conceptual Analysis: A new conceptual model is presented here which explains how mindfulness can reduce noise reactivity. Two types of mindfulness are distinguished: an active form (meta-mindfulness) and a passive form (supra-mindfulness). It is posited that meta-mindfulness can facilitate "cognitive defusion" which research has confirmed as enabling people to disconnect from their own dysfunctional thoughts. In the case of aircraft noise, negative thinking associated with residents' reactive experiences can exacerbate the health effects they suffer. The present model further proposes that supra-mindfulness can enable an individual to disengage their own sense of identity from the often overwhelming negative thoughts which can define their existence when they are consumed by extreme noise annoyance. Conclusion: The mindfulness processes of defusion and disidentification are postulated to be the key efficacy mechanisms potentially responsible for reducing reactivity to aircraft noise. This approach can be evaluated by extending previous research on the health benefits of mindfulness training.
Details
- Title
- Using mindfulness to reduce the health effects of community reaction to aircraft noise
- Authors
- Andrew Hede (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts, Business and Law
- Publication details
- Noise & Health, Vol.19(89), pp.165-173
- Publisher
- Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd.
- Date published
- 2017
- DOI
- 10.4103/nah.NAH_106_16
- ISSN
- 1463-1741
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2017 Hede. This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; USC Business School - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450690602621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Web Of Science research areas
- Audiology & Speech-language Pathology
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
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