High-Frequency and Ultrasonic Sound Exposure and Cardiovascular Risk: A Systematic Review with AI Perspectives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37506/dr2jce10Keywords:
High-frequency noise; Airborne ultrasound; ischemic heart disease; Myocardial infarction; Artificial intelligence.Abstract
Background: Environmental and occupational noise is an established cardiovascular risk factor, but the role of high-frequency (≥8 kHz) and airborne ultrasonic (>20 kHz) sound remains poorly understood.
Objective: To systematically review evidence published between 2014 and 2025 on the association of high-frequency/ultrasonic sound exposure with ischemic heart disease (IHD) and myocardial infarction (MI), and to evaluate the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in advancing exposure assessment and risk prediction.
Methods: PubMed/PMC and leading cardiology and environmental health journals were searched for systematic reviews, umbrella reviews, and primary human studies addressing high-frequency or ultrasonic noise in environmental, transportation, or occupational settings. Eligible outcomes included IHD/MI incidence, hospitalizations, mortality, and proximate cardiovascular markers. Data on study quality, risk of bias, and evidence certainty were extracted.
Results: Forty-one studies met inclusion criteria (8 systematic reviews, 3 umbrella reviews, 30 primary studies). While reviews consistently linked general environmental noise to IHD/MI risk (RR ~1.08–1.15 per 10 dB increment), few addressed high-frequency or ultrasonic exposures. Occupational and experimental studies suggested acute effects elevated blood pressure, autonomic imbalance, oxidative stress yet long-term associations with IHD/MI remain inconclusive. Environmental studies indicated transient blood pressure changes and sleep disturbance in communities exposed to ultrasonic sources. AI approaches, including deep learning for noise source separation and GIS-based exposure mapping, show promise but are rarely applied to ultrasonic exposures.
Conclusions: Current evidence for high-frequency and ultrasonic sound as independent cardiovascular risk factors is limited and low-certainty, though mechanistic findings support biological plausibility via stress-axis activation, vascular dysfunction, and autonomic imbalance. Integration of AI tools into exposure assessment and cardiovascular risk modeling may accelerate progress in this emerging field of environmental cardiology.
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