what harmful effects on health?

Almost 125 million European citizens suffer from noise pollution. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), noise exposure is involved in 43,000 hospitalizations and more than 10,000 premature deaths a year in Europe. On the occasion of the Sound Week which is held from 20 to 26 January in France, Pourquoi Docteur takes stock of the main harmful effects of noise for health.

Adverse effects on hearing

Who says noise says ears. Obviously, the first risk related to excessive noise level concerns hearing. For an 8-hour workday, we consider the latter to be in danger from 85dB (A). If the noise level is higher, the exposure should be shorter. If the level is extremely high (greater than 130 dB (A)), any exposure, even a very short one, is dangerous. Because prolonged exposure to intense noise levels gradually destroys the hair cells of the inner ear. A progressive deafness then begins to settle.

Deafness has three stages: it begins with mild deafness, where the subject does not realize his hearing loss because the frequencies of speech are little affected. Then, when he reaches the phase of average deafness, the high frequencies of the conversation are affected and he no longer clearly understands what is being said. Finally, when the person suffers from profound and irreversible deafness, he hears little or nothing what is said.

Excessive noise can also cause tinnitus (abnormal perception of noise in the absence of a sound source), hyperacusis (the ear becomes hypersensitive to certain sounds) or even an acute sound trauma (brutal injury due to exposure to loud noises such as an explosion, fireworks, or a shot).

An increase in cardiovascular disorders

Numerous studies have shown that workers exposed to noise are more likely to be prone to cardiovascular disorders. The latter would increase with the seniority of these employees in a noisy position. Noise increases heart rate and blood pressure (almost 900,000 cases of hypertension are caused by excessive noise each year), cholesterol levels and the risk of heart attack.

Sleep disturbances

Exposure to noise during the night has of course negative consequences on the quality of sleep. For example, a 12-hour daytime exposure to 85 dB (A) results in a reduction in the number and duration of sleep cycles. Noise disrupts the recovery function of sleep and can lead to chronic fatigue. This phenomenon is even more pronounced in people working at night who have to sleep during the day.

Negative effects on mental health

Several studies have also shown the negative effects of noise on mental health. According to a study published in the European journal of public health in May 2018, Danish researchers analyzed the results of health and morbidity surveys carried out in 2010 and 2013. They then found that people who said they were very upset by the noise of their neighbors had 2.34 times more likely to be in poor mental health and were 2.78 times more likely to experience a high level of perceived stress than those indifferent to the noise of their neighbors. Similar associations have been observed with the discomfort caused by traffic noise. In conclusion, “the results of this study indicate that there is a strong relationship between noise annoyance and poor mental health and high levels of perceived stress among people living in multi-storey housing in Denmark”, note the authors, adding that further research is “necessary to determine the direction of causation”.

In an investigation by the Noise information and documentation center (CIDB) in 2010 on French people, 35% of respondents accused the noise of disturbing their sleep while for 26% it was a source of stress and for 22% of fatigue and nervous tension. According to this survey, 10% would take medication because of the noise and the noise even caused 7% of people with depression to fall. Finally, 15% would consider moving because of noise pollution.

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