Noise of modern life blamed for thousands of heart deaths

· Stress of exposure adds to risks, says WHO report

· Light traffic is enough for chronic levels at night

Alok Jha, science correspondent

Thursday August 23, 2007

The Guardian

Thousands of people in Britain and around the world are dying prematurely from heart disease triggered by long-term exposure to excessive noise, according to research by the World Health Organisation. Coronary heart disease caused 101,000 deaths in the UK in 2006, and the study suggests that 3,030 of these are caused by chronic noise exposure, including to daytime traffic.

Deepak Prasher, professor of audiology at University College London, told the New Scientist magazine: "The new data provide the link showing there are earlier deaths because of noise. Until now, noise has been the Cinderella form of pollution and people haven't been aware that it has an impact on their health."

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The WHO's working group on the Noise Environmental Burden on Disease began work on the health effects of noise in Europe in 2003. In addition to the heart disease link, it found that 2% of Europeans suffer severely disturbed sleep because of noise pollution and 15% can suffer severe annoyance. Chronic exposure to loud traffic noise causes 3% of tinnitus cases, in which people constantly hear a noise in their ears.

Research published in recent years has shown that noise can increase the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenalin in the body, even during sleep. The longer these hormones stay in circulation around the bloodstream, the more likely they are to cause life-threatening physiological problems. High stress levels can lead to heart failure, strokes, high blood pressure and immune problems.

"All this is happening imperceptibly," said Prof Prasher. "Even when you think you are used to the noise, these physiological changes are still happening."

The WHO came to its figures by comparing households with abnormally high exposure to noise with those in quieter homes. It also studied people with problems such as coronary heart disease and tried to work out if high noise levels had been a factor in developing the condition. This data was then combined with maps showing the noisiest European cities.

According to the WHO guidelines, the noise threshold for cardiovascular problems is chronic night-time exposure of 50 decibels (dB) or above - the noise of light traffic. For sleep disturbance, the threshold is 42dB, for general annoyance it is 35dB, the sound of a whisper.

Ellen Mason, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Our world is undoubtedly getting busier and noisier. Some people find noise pollution more stressful to live with than others do. Noise cannot directly kill us, but it may add to our stress. Occasionally, stressful events can trigger a heart attack in someone with underlying heart disease. We know that stressed people are more likely to eat unhealthily, exercise less and smoke more, and these can increase the risk of developing heart disease in the first place."

Mary Stevens, policy officer at the National Society for Clean Air, said of the study's results: "We welcome this because one of the problems with noise is that it's one of the areas that local authorities get most complaints about and it's a big draw on their resources. But, unlike air quality, it hasn't been taken that seriously policy-wise because there [wasn't] the link between noise and health."

Ms Stevens said that there were many options for reducing noise. Traffic could be quietened if more cars used low-noise tyres and councils installed low-noise road surfaces, for example. And coordinating roadworks by utility companies would also prevent the proliferation of potholes, another source of noisy traffic.

The EU has already issued a directive that obligates European cities with populations greater than 250,000 to produce digitised noise maps showing where traffic noise and volume is greatest. "[The research] all supports work going on at the moment to manage traffic noise, which is driven by the environmental noise directive," said Ms Stevens.

They want to come and check out our place!

05:30 this morning music blaring out from a house 500m away. Party that started about 15:00 yesterday afternoon.

06:30 different music comming from the kids rooms and the missus has the TV on loud enough so she can here the news in the kitchen.

There is no problem in Thailand. Today's newspaper announced they are using compulsory licensing on heart medication now, so blare away, just remember to take your greatly reduced-in-price pill!

There is no problem in Thailand. Today's newspaper announced they are using compulsory licensing on heart medication now, so blare away, just remember to take your greatly reduced-in-price pill!

These pseudo-science surveys piss me off. These underemployed research scientists seem to spend most of their creative energies coming up with a research project which will capture most headlines, secure grant funding, and then spend years looking at only the research which supports their rather dubious proposition.

I could probably come up with a similar theory - Silence causes thrombosis - and find evidence somewhere, somehow, which supports it.

Utter nonsense, all of it.

Karl Popper would turn in his grave.

Bendix, I am confused--which pseudo-science are you referring to the one on noise or the effectiveness of generic heart medication?!

Hey Scott where can I get these reduced in price chill pills? need one NOW

Bendix, you might have had a different oppinion if you'd been at my place earlier this morning.

Whatever the scientific basis for this, if there is any, the noise levels in many places can be stressfull to some. A trip to Bic C is enough for me. Worse than the circus, if there are any left. Thais seem to be oblivious to this issue. They seem to thrive on excessive decibels.

YEAH, you just can't get away from noise pollution. I have to put up with chickens crowing, ducks quacking, turkeys gobbling and the dog barking once in a while. Then at night there are the took gaes, jing joks and frogs. By Thanksgiving there will be less turkeys gobbling so I can look forward to that.

theres a new mosque near my place, and the guys there've just mastered the art of using a pa system....

Edited August 23, 200718 yr by Payboy

to all these anti-society whiners ...

you should be consequent with yourselves, follow your anti-philosophy to the core and the only option left, is to commit suicide ... please do it or shut the <deleted> up!

This is just the proof I require to cold-bloodedly poison my neighbour's dogs.

to all these anti-society whiners ...

you should be consequent with yourselves, follow your anti-philosophy to the core and the only option left, is to commit suicide ... please do it or shut the <deleted> up!

Will you lead the way?

i must admit Thais do seem to be abit selfish when it comes to noise pollution around my muban

people get up from 3am onwards and dont seem to worry about slamming car doors or loading up

the truck chucking gas bottles and allsorts in the back and shouting to each other while the pick up

is left ticking over '

and i have found i am more tolerent of the noise here than in the uk ?

constant noise is a problem in towns and for those living close to factories, busy roads, airports - you can't sleep, you get chronic tiredness and your heart gives up.

noise from the animals and birds can be a problem - but is not comparable to the constant roar of the turbo engines by the airport or speeding lories on the motorway. I live close to the major road in London and for the first month staying here I couldn't sleep enough

i believe japan has one of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world,which i would say is down to their largely healthy diet.never been to japan,but i would hazard a guess its quite noisy in city areas.

though to me bangkok is certainly not healthy mentally & phisically.

Edited August 23, 200718 yr by uptou

i believe japan has one of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world,which i would say is down to their largely healthy diet.never been to japan,but i would hazard a guess its quite noisy in city areas.

though to me bangkok is certainly not healthy mentally & phisically.

yes, urban areas in japan are noisy, but there are laws there which are actually enforced. one simply can't drive around selling things via loudspeakers. similarly, no one can just set up stage anywhere for song and dance events without permission from local authorities.