Background: Air traffic, in constant increase during the last decades, is not without impact on the environment and the population. Aircraft noise in particular represents a serious nuisance and a major issue for public health, particularly in terms of sleep disturbances. However, in France especially, the effects of aircraft noise exposure remain insufficiently evaluated. Objectives: The objective of this PhD is to better know and better quantify the effects of aircraft noise exposure on sleep quality in populations living near airports in France, while distinguishing subjective quality and objective quality. Methods: In order to meet the objectives of the PhD, we used the data collected in an epidemiological research program called DEBATS (Discussion on the Health Effects of Aircraft Noise). The main study, also called the “longitudinal study”, included 1,244 participants living near three French major airports: Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Lyon-Saint-Exupéry and Toulouse-Blagnac. The subjective quality of sleep was assessed using a questionnaire administered by interviewers at the place of residence of the participants. Aircraft noise levels were estimated at each participant's home address using noise maps produced by the French Civil Aviation Authority. A complementary, also called the “sleep study” allowed us to estimate the objective sleep quality of 112 of the 1,244 participants in the longitudinal study. These 112 participants have worn a wrist actigraph for eight nights and an Actiheart (heart rate recorder) for one night. Acoustic measurements were made during these eight days and nights, both inside the participants’ bedrooms and outside (at the exterior façade) in order to characterize their aircraft noise exposure using not only energy indicators (LAeq, LA90) but also events indicators (number of events and maximum level of an noise event or LAmax). Results: The “longitudinaly study” analysis showed an association between aircraft noise exposure during the night (Lnight) and the subjective quality of sleep characterized by a risk of reporting to sleep less than 6 hours per night (OR=1.63 for 10 dB(A); 95% CI: 1.15–2.32) and a risk of feeling tired while awakening in the morning (OR=1.23 for 10 dB(A); 95% CI: 1.00– 1.54). We did not find any significant relationship with the other subjective parameters of sleep quality reported by the subjects themselves, such as time to fall asleep, nocturnal awakenings, sleep satisfaction, and sleep medication intake. We also showed an association between aircraft noise exposure and the objective parameters of sleep quality with an increase in time of sleep onset and duration of wake after sleep onset, and a reduction in sleep efficiency. Aircraft noise exposure also increased total sleep time and time in bed (this could be a matter of behavioral adaption to sleep deprivation). The energy indicators, but more still events indicators, were significantly associated with the objective parameters of sleep quality. For example, aircraft noise events detected inside the bedroom were associated with an increase in total duration of wake after sleep onset greater than 30 minutes (OR=1.10 for 10 events; 95% CI: 1.03-1.16). Finally, we observed a significant increase in amplitude of heart rate during a noise event associated with the passage of an aircraft and the maximum noise level of this event (LAmax). Conclusions: These results, mostly similar to those obtained in the majority of studies in the international literature, confirm that exposure to aircraft noise can decrease both subjective and objective quality of sleep. They also contribute to support the hypothesis that acoustic events indicators could, better than energy indicators more widely used, characterize the effects of aircraft noise on sleep