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Noise and vibration
Published in Stephen Battersby, Clay's Handbook of Environmental Health, 2023
Andrew Colthurst, Steve Fisher
There are currently three WHO environmental noise guideline documents which define recommended exposure levels for environmental noise in order to protect the health of the population: 1999 Guidelines for Community Noise (CNG) [18];2009 Night Noise Guidelines for Europe (NNG) [21]; and2018 Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region (ENG) [22]. A recent and authoritative summary of the health effects of noise, at least in the European region, is provided by the European Environment Agency (EEA) Report No 22/2019 ‘Environmental noise in Europe – 2020’ [112] which included data for the UK in its analyses. In Chapter 3 ‘Health impacts of exposure to environmental noise’ three ‘key messages’ are highlighted: Long-term exposure to environmental noise is estimated to cause 12,000 premature deaths and contribute to 48,000 new cases of ischaemic heart disease per year in the European territory. It is estimated that 22 million people suffer chronic high annoyance and 6.5 million people suffer chronic high sleep disturbance. As a result of aircraft noise, 12,500 schoolchildren are estimated to suffer learning impairment in school.Environmental noise (i.e. road, rail, aircraft and industry) features among the top environmental risks to health, with an estimated 1 million healthy years of life lost every year from health effects including annoyance, sleep disturbance and ischaemic heart disease.These health impacts are likely to be underestimated, with new World Health Organization evidence demonstrating effects at levels below the obligatory END [1] reporting thresholds. In addition, the END does not comprehensively cover all urban areas, roads, railways and airports across Europe. The same report also considers the latest studies on social inequalities and vulnerability to environmental noise. In addition to the inevitable focus on the effects of high noise levels on health and well-being the EEA report highlights that one of the ENG’s guiding principles is to ‘reduce exposure to noise, while conserving quiet areas’. The identification and preservation of quiet or tranquil areas is promoted, not just to avoid more of the population being exposed to increased noise levels but also for the restorative effect such areas can have.
Soundscape revisited
Published in Journal of Urban Design, 2020
A side effect of noise maps is that an area located far away from surrounding sound sources appears as a white spot on the map. This is an area for which the sound levels from traffic and industry cannot be calculated. This phenomenon gave rise to the concept of ‘quiet areas’ introduced in the European Environmental Noise Directive. The idea is that competent authorities may decide to protect designated ‘quiet areas’ from deterioration. This represents a kind of relief from an otherwise negative mindset with regards to sound in society, which permeates current legislation.