Noise pollution and chronic disease

by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition

Photo credit: zhang kaiyv

Medscape just published an article that summarizes the growing scientific literature about noise pollution and chronic disease. I first became aware of the adverse non-auditory health effects of noise more than a decade ago, when I read a paper in the UK medical journal The Lancet, but I don’t think most doctors are aware that noise affects the heart. Additional adverse health effects include hypertension, obesity, diabetes and vascular dysfunction.  I’m pretty sure members of the public don’t have a clue about this, either.

Though the information about noise pollution in the Medscape report appears to be accurate, the author is wrong about the auditory effects of noise. She writes that “direct hearing damage occurs at sound pressure levels above 100 dB,” when the actual safe noise exposure level to prevent hearing loss is much lower, probably only 55 A-weighted decibels (dBA) for a single noise event.

European health authorities understand that noise pollution is bad, but this fact does not appear to have reached health officials in Washington or Atlanta. Readers should bring this to the attention of their elected representatives at the local, state and national levels.

A quieter world will be a better and healthier world for all.