Noise pollution is nothing new, especially if you live in cities or near industrial areas, but its effects may go far beyond basic annoyance.
What's happening?
A transcontinental group of researchers from Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, and Philadelphia looked at how transportation noise via road, rail, and aircraft sources increases the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, according to Medical Xpress.
Loud sounds can be disturbing in themselves, but the research focused on non-auditory effects when people are exposed to traffic noise. The analysis demonstrated that for every 10 decibels, the risk of diseases like heart attack, stroke, and heart failure increases by 3.2%, as the article details.
Why is traffic noise so troubling?
The World Health Organization estimated that more than 1.6 million healthy years of life are lost annually in Western Europe due to transportation noise. And since about 56% of the world's population lives in urban areas, according to World Bank, they're more prone to heavy road traffic and often close to airports and railway lines.
Exposure to such noise, particularly at night, can lead to fragmented sleep and higher stress levels in both the vasculature and the brain, per Medical Xpress. This increases the risk of vascular disorders, inflammation, and high blood pressure, which can lead to cardiovascular disease. Subsequently, the researchers are proposing new risk markers associated with transportation noise exposure.
Another study found that just sitting in traffic exposes you to air pollution that can cause a spike in blood pressure that potentially lasts for 24 hours.
Human noise can impact the natural world as well. Chatting it up or jamming tunes while traipsing through the woods can stress out animals, impair their auditory acuity, and cause behavioral problems. Just imagine how highways, railways, and airports freak them out.
The underwater world is also getting noisier, since sound travels more efficiently through warmer and more acidic seas, which is a byproduct of the changing climate.
What's being done to quiet things down?
The European Commission already has a zero pollution action plan, which includes measures to reduce the number of people suffering from transport noise 30% by 2030 compared to 2017 levels.
One of the study's lead authors shared with Medical Xpress, "It is also important for us that traffic noise is now finally recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease due to the strong evidence." This knowledge helps them develop effective noise protection strategies.
Many of the green technologies and initiatives today already tackle both the warming planet and noise. Electric motors are much quieter than their gas-guzzling counterparts, both on the road and in the workplace.
By transforming cities and creating more green spaces, pedestrian areas, and bike paths, we can reduce both our carbon impact and mitigate traffic noise. This can also increase biodiversity in urban areas, which in turn can improve mental health.
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