National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

Published purpose

The older population is experiencing growth and a considerable proportion of them live in their homes and express preference to age in place. The main guidance for buildings, such as building codes or indoor environmental quality standards, is based on research with young or working-age adults and not necessarily support health and well-being for seniors. On a specific approach, environmental noise directly affects sleep quality when the building envelope system is not properly designed, which consequently have negative effects on PAGE 4 health. The degree of disturbance caused by noise varies over age and has not been well investigated. This project will investigate the effects of noise in sleep quality of older adults aiming to identify suitable interior acoustic conditions to support health and well-being for adults as they age. The study includes a literature review to establish knowledge gaps and support the decision making in the development of the subsequent activities; a survey of the general population to find out their needs and wants with respect to their physical environment and a set of sleep studies, to investigate the effects of different noise conditions in the quality of sleep of aging adults. The study will be developed collaboratively between the NRC and AIST and its outcomes will provide bases for the development of guidelines for suitable interior acoustic conditions to support health and well-being for adults as they age