Noise pollution from cars, trains and planes can takes years off your life, study warns

Noise pollution shortens the lives of those affected by it – with road traffic causing the greatest damage according to a study by the UK Health Security Agency.

Research by the UKHSA looked at the impact of noise levels on health: disrupting sleep, causing stress, depression and anxiety, and increasing the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

As part of the new study, the UKHSA assessed the impact of transport noise in every local authority in England – and found it can have a ‘significant impact on our health’.

Researchers used a metric called Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) to measure noise impact, with each representing a year a person has been in good health.

The study found that in 2018, approximately 100,000 years of good health were lost to road traffic noise, 13,000 years to railway noise, and 17,000 to aircraft noise.

It found that most of the losses were caused by noise which has a direct impact on people’s well-being and quality of life.

The study also found that noise increases the risk of stroke and developing serious health problems such as ischemic heart disease (heart problems caused by narrowed heart arteries), diabetes, depression and anxiety.

London, the Southeast and Northwest regions had the highest number of years lost to traffic noise, the study found, while the capital also had the most years lost to aircraft noise.

The authors, led by Dr Benjamin Fenech from UKHSA, Professor Anna Hansell from Leicester University and Professor John Gulliver from St George’s, University of London, stressed that the estimates may be conservative because the study included only high traffic roads and people who were exposed to lower levels of traffic noise.

The number of years of good health lost due to traffic noise was up to three times higher in London than in some other parts of the country, the data suggests.

The study found that people’s health is most likely to be affected if they are exposed to noise levels greater than 50 decibels over a 24-hour period.

While 5 percent were exposed to railway noise above 50 decibels, within that category there were fewer differences between local authorities than for road and aircraft noise.

The UKHSA report said: ‘Our research shows that exposure to traffic noise, particularly from road traffic, is responsible for a significant burden of disease in England and this varies unevenly between regions.

‘Our work provides useful national information for identifying areas with different disease burdens due to different noise sources and for setting priorities in environmental health research, policy and interventions.

“The epidemiological evidence on noise and health continues to develop, and estimates of the burden of disease are likely to change as more data from good quality longitudinal studies become available.”

About 5 percent of the population in England was blasted with aircraft noise above 50 decibels, the researchers found, and there were higher noise levels in and around London.

The House of Lords Science Committee is currently conducting a study on the impact of noise and light pollution on human health.