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Environmental Noise and Health: The Latest Evidence

Environmental Noise and Health: The Latest Evidence. Professor Deepak Prasher Institute of Laryngology and Otology University College London. Day and Night Noise Levels. Typical Noise Level LeqdBA Day Night Acoustical Quality 35 35 natural sounds only 50 40 quiet rural environment

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Environmental Noise and Health: The Latest Evidence

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  1. Environmental Noise and Health: The Latest Evidence Professor Deepak Prasher Institute of Laryngology and Otology University College London

  2. Day and Night Noise Levels Typical Noise Level LeqdBA Day Night Acoustical Quality 35 35 natural sounds only 50 40 quiet rural environment 55 45 suburban neighbourhood 65 50 urban noise situation 75 75 very noisy, unfit for permanent habitation

  3. Noise Level and Effect • <55dBA Desirable level outdoor Suburban neighbourhood • 55-65dBA Urban “Grey Areas”: Annoyance • >65dBA Black spots: Stress effects, sleep disturbance, communication performance deficits • >75dBA Unfit for Human habitation, hearing loss, cardiovascular effects

  4. European City Noise • Desirable Indoor Comfort Leq <65dBA • New Residential Areas outdoor levels <55dBA • Urban “Grey Areas” Levels 55-65dBA • Black Spots Levels >65dBA • Large European Cities:Number of People exposed to high levels 3 times national average • Percentage living in “grey areas” increasing (OECD 1991)

  5. Noise Levels in Environment • Normal Conversation 45-55dBA • Car 50km/h 60-80dBA • HGV 50km/h 80-95dBA • Motorcycle 50km/h 75-100dBA • Train 200km/h 95-100dBA pk • Discotheque(Leq) 85-100dBA • Jet (Take off,100m) 110-115dBA • Military low level flights 105-120dBA

  6. Speech Communication in Noise • Socially people talk at 2-4m distance: Noise should not exceed 55-60dBA • Outdoor recreation people talk at 5-10m: Noise levels should not exceed 45-55dBA • At work people can converse at 1m with difficulty with noise at 78dBA. • For prolonged conversations noise level must be lower than 78dBA at work

  7. Hazardous Noise Levels • Level Hazardous if communication not possible when in the sound • Tinnitus (ringing in ears) after sound exposure • Sounds muffled after leaving sound exposure area

  8. Noise Environment in Europe • 450million (65%) exposed to >55dBA • 113 million (17%) exposed to >65dBA • 9.7million (1.4%) exposed to >75dBA • No systematic differences across Europe • Eastern European Cities noisier than Western • Data poor from Central and Eastern Europe

  9. Costs of Noise to Society • Estimate: 0.2 to 2% GDP 0.2% equates to 12Billion Euros annually

  10. Noise Sources in Europe • Road Traffic • Air Traffic • Rail Traffic • Industry • Recreational Activities • Construction Sites • Traffic on Waterways

  11. Auditory Effects • Acoustic Trauma: Sudden hearing damage • Tinnitus: Ringing in the Ears • TTS:Temporary threshold shift • PTS: Permanent threshold shift • Interference with Communication

  12. Non-Auditory Effects • Annoyance • Sleep Disturbance • Attention • Motivation • Stress reactions • Cardiovascular problems • Endocrine problems

  13. Annoyance • Noise is annoying • Generally the louder the noise the greater the annoyance • But there are non-acoustic factors affecting annoyance • Degree of annoyance not directly related to adverse health effects

  14. Annoyance from Street Noise West Germany (UBA 1988) Inhabitants Percentage Annoyed < 5000 14-16 5-20,000 17-19 20-100,000 19-25 >100,000 22-33 Annoyance increases with increase in Population

  15. Factors affecting Annoyance • Primary Acoustic: Sound level, frequency and duration • Secondary Acoustic: Spectral complexity, fluctuations in frequency, level, localisation of noise source • Non-acoustic: Adaptation and past experience, listener’s activity interference, predictability of noise, individual personality

  16. Noise and Sleep • Increases time taken to fall asleep • Causes awakenings and changes in sleep stages; reduces REM and slow wave sleep • Sleep disturbance in turn may lead to poor performance and change in modd next day • Noise sensitive individuals and elderly more vulnerable • Chronic exposure leads increase of cortisol • Adaptation possible but not complete habituation

  17. Noise and Sleep • In Europe 10-26% (55-143 m) : Severe difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep • Chronic Sleep disorders lead to loss of efficiency, psychological well being, learning in childhood, social interaction and driving ability • Drivers falling asleep cause 20% of accidents on German Roads

  18. Noise and Performance • Distracting effects of Noise impair performance especially in children, noise sensitive and anxious people • Type and degree of control important in degradation of performance • Learning in Schools impaired due to outdoor and/or indoor noise levels • Memory: Recall impaired in children

  19. Noise and Hormones • Prolonged exposure to stress leads to immune dysfunction and increased vulnerability to disease • Environmental stress leads to production of stress-related hormones • Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays a crucial role in this • Cortisol is closely associated with stress related health problems

  20. Noise and Hormones • Noise can affect the HPA function • Salivary cortisol enhanced during mental work under 90dBA noise and NOT under quiet conditions • Circadian decline in cortisol NOT seen in chronically exposed workers to noise >85dBA but did with use of headphones • Noise exposure during gestation leads to enhance HPA responses to stressors in later life

  21. Noise and Cardiovascular Effects • Acute noise effects: increase in heart rate, blood pressure and peripheral vasoconstriction • Heart rate changes to noise during sleep do not habituate • No epidemiological evidence of relationship between noise exposure and blood pressure in adults BUT consistently seen in children • Increased risk of ischaemic heart disease with outdoor levels >65-70dba • Association shown between noise and serum lipids in women and young men

  22. Noise and Mental Health • Community based Studies show high levels of environmental noise associated with depression and anxiety • Aircraft noise in children impairs quality of life but no depression or anxiety

  23. Noise and Fatigue • Increased fatigue and irritability after work in noisy environments • Fatigue and headache more common among noise exposed workers in a survey of 50,000 workers • Reaction times prolonged after one week in high noise levels increasing gradually compared to controls which improved

  24. Noise and Children • Aircraft noise : Difficulties in attention, communication, learning and memory • Concentration, motivation and language acquisition affected by increased outdoor and/or indoor noise levels • Raised blood pressure seen with prolonged noise exposure to traffic noise

  25. Leisure Noise • Risk to hearing and tinnitus from: • Loud music : Concerts, discotheques, Personal cassette players • Noisy toys, arcade and computer games • Sports activities and venues • DIY activities

  26. Social Noise induced hearing impairment • Audiometric thresholds may be within normal limits but impairment may be present • Inability to decipher speech in noisy conditions • Tinnitus: An early warning signal? • Early onset of presbycusis?

  27. Loud Music and Hearing Percentage of young people reporting dulled hearing and/or tinnitus Rock Concerts (100-120dBA) 63-73% Night Clubs ( 95-110dBA) 47-66% Personal Stereos( 80-110dBA) 17%

  28. Strategies • EC 5th Environmental Action Programme No Person should be exposed to noise levels which endanger health and quality of life • Exposure to 65dBA night Leq should be phased out • At no time should a level of 85dBA be exceeded • No increase in level for those affected by 55-65dBA

  29. Special Groups • Children • Elderly • Sick People • Hearing Impaired People These groups may constitute 30% of Population

  30. Noise measures and Health • Noise measures based only on energy summation NOT sufficient to : • characterize noise environments • health effects • or predict health outcome • Noise fluctuations, number of noise events and inclusion of low frequency components is important

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