Everyone is aware about the unhealthy effects of noise pollution. Noise pollution is an issue that is often discussed on diverse platforms from newspapers and magazines to conferences. Several scientific studies have been conducted on the subject, including a 5-year research by the World Health Organization (WHO), which investigated the physiological reaction to noise and its subsequent effect on health.
This study was the subject of an article published by The Times (UK) in June 2019, titled ‘How noise pollution affects your health – it takes years off your life’.
According to this article, the WHO identified several impacts of noise in humans including tinnitus, sleep disturbance, ischemic heart disease, obesity, diabetes, adverse birth outcomes and cognitive impairment in children. Noise pollution from traffic in Western Europe, for instance, caused a loss of ‘at least one million healthy years of life’ annually. An average person residing in Paris, France loses ‘more than three healthy life-years’ to ailments caused or worsened by environmental noise pollution, says Bruitparif, a French organisation monitoring noise in the French capital.
Stephen Stansfeld, who advised the WHO on the study, is the emeritus professor of psychiatry at Queen Mary University of London. As a world-leading noise expert, he explains that humans are affected by noise not only at night but also during the day. The stress response to noise by humans has an evolutionary basis because noise was always considered a potential source of danger.
Read more about how noise can affect your life at this link.
