The everyday acoustic environment and its association with human heart rate: evidence from real-world data logging with hearing aids and wearables

We investigate the short-term association between multidimensional acoustic characteristics of everyday ambient sound and continuous mean heart rate. We used in-market data from hearing aid users who logged ambient acoustics via smartphone-connected hearing aids and continuous mean heart rate in 5 min intervals from their own wearables. We find that acoustic characteristics explain approximately 4% of the fluctuation in mean heart rate throughout the day. Specifically, increases in ambient sound pressure intensity are significantly related to increases in mean heart rate, corroborating prior laboratory and short-term real-world data. In addition, increases in ambient sound quality—that is, more favourable signal to noise ratios—are associated with decreases in mean heart rate. Our findings document a previously unrecognized mixed influence of everyday sounds on cardiovascular stress, and that the relationship is more complex than is seen from an examination of sound intensity alone. Thus, our findings highlight the relevance of ambient environmental sound in models of human ecophysiology.