WHO and JRC announce new evidence of health effects of noise

Environmental noise (noise pollution) poses a health risk. According to a new report from the World Health Organisation (WHO), prepared with support of the JRC, environmental noise leads to a disease burden that is second in magnitude only to that from air pollution, among environmental factors in Europe,

Whereas the direct consequences of noise pollution lead to permanent hearing loss and impairments, the indirect health effects encompass a wide range of health complications resulting from increased anxiety, psychological distress, depression, and communication problems. In chronic cases this can result in cardiovascular problems.

The report highlights that:
•One in three Europeans experience annoyance during the daytime and one in five has disturbed sleep at night because of noise from roads, railways and airports.
•Traffic-related noise accounts for over 1 million healthy years of life lost annually to ill health, disability or early death in the western countries in the WHO European Region. The report which was released on 30 March 2011 reviews the evidence of health effects consequent to noise exposure and estimates the burden of disease in western European countries. It also provides guidance on how best to quantify risks from environmental noise.

In order to reduce the health effects of environmental noise, the European Commission, the WHO/Europe and the European Environment Agency are collaborating closely to improve implementation of the 2010 Parma Declaration and the European Union's noise-related directives. JRC, on behalf of the European Commission's Environment Directorate-General, develops and coordinates the common noise assessment methodological framework (CNOSSOS-EU).

Note: The WHO European Region covers over 880 million people in 53 countries, stretching from the Arctic Ocean in the north, the Mediterranean in the south, the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the east (http://www.euro.who.int/en/where-we-work).

Source: JRC European Commission